There's money to be made in education, argues Bob Bowden, but only if you trim out the unprofitable bits, like good teachers. In his documentary "The Cartel," Bowden, a New Jersey TV news reporter, turns the camera on the massive corruption and mismanagement that has led his state to spend more than any other on its students but with abysmal results. When $400,000 is spent per classroom, but reading proficiency is only 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is apparent; which doesn't mean it's not controversial.
On the one side is the massive Jersey teachers union and shadowy school officials, who ensure that, as Bowden points out in his movie, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a staggering example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can operate outside the influence of what Bowden calls The Cartel. Bowden makes much of the fact that it's nearly impossible for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who know they have a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"The documentary examines lots of distinctive aspects of public education, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning theft -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the hot topics amongst the education-reform effort."
"The movie first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a rise, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documentary "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more notice to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My film is the left-brained version, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is undoubtedly analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the film is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is continuously on the people affected, chiefly the inner-city students trapped in a disordered system. The weeping face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own potent debate for the unsatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
It's hard to catch a movie about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also obvious that this is a national dilemma seen through a tight lens. Bowdon's film illustrates a local predicament, but any watcher will realize the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to select their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how hard it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable.
On the one side is the massive Jersey teachers union and shadowy school officials, who ensure that, as Bowden points out in his movie, 90 cents of every tax dollar go for other expenses, including six figure incomes for school administrators and, in a staggering example, a school board secretary who makes $180,000. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools -- private schools which can operate outside the influence of what Bowden calls The Cartel. Bowden makes much of the fact that it's nearly impossible for a teacher to be fired, a safety net that does little to encourage hard work in those teachers who know they have a career regardless of how many of the three Rs they teach -- if any.
"The documentary examines lots of distinctive aspects of public education, tenure, funding, patronage drops, corruption --meaning theft -- vouchers and charter schools," says Bowdon. "And as such it sort of serves as a swift-moving primer on all of the hot topics amongst the education-reform effort."
"The movie first appeared on the festival circuit in summer 2009, appearing in theaters countrywide a year later. Hopefully it will get a rise, and not be overshadowed, by the more recently released documentary "Waiting for Superman," by "An Inconvenient Truth" director Davis Guggenheim. Bowdon sees the films as complementary, and hopes that "Superman," with its human-interest approach, draws more notice to his own, which focuses on public policy. "My film is the left-brained version, more analytical," Bowdon says, "'Waiting for Superman' is more the right-brained treatment."
It is undoubtedly analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. But that isn't to say the film is without heart. Bowdon makes sure his eye is continuously on the people affected, chiefly the inner-city students trapped in a disordered system. The weeping face of a young girl who learns she was not selected for a place at a charter school makes its own potent debate for the unsatisfactory failure of a state's education system.
It's hard to catch a movie about corruption in Jersey and not think of the mob, but it's also obvious that this is a national dilemma seen through a tight lens. Bowdon's film illustrates a local predicament, but any watcher will realize the systems of system failure in their own state's schools. Bowdon comes out in favor of the charter school plan, of taxpayers being able to select their own schools, to get out from under the state's control. But "The Cartel" also shows us how hard it's going to be to get that control back from those who've found it so profitable.
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