Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is a New York-based
political action committee which focuses on encouraging the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
to support public education reform and
charter schools
A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
.
History
DFER emerged around the same time as the
.
Whitney Tilson and
Kevin P. Chavous
Kevin Pernell Chavous (born May 17, 1956) is an American lawyer, author, education reform activist, and former Democratic Party politician in Washington, D.C., in the United States. He served as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia ...
are among the group's co-founders.
Positions
DFER claims to support five policy areas: resource equity, teacher quality and preparation, accountability, public school choice, and higher ed quality and affordability. In 2018, the
Colorado Democratic Party
The Colorado Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Colorado. Morgan Carroll serves as its chair.
The governing body of the party is the State Central Committee, which consi ...
asked the Colorado DFER chapter to stop using "Democrats" in its name.
Leadership
Shavar Jeffries
Shavar Jeffries is an American civil rights attorney who in January 2023 became the CEO of thKIPP Foundation a nonprofit which trains and develops educators to lead KIPP public schools; provides tools, resources and training for excellent teachi ...
, one of the charter school sector's most prominent Black leaders, became the president of the organization in 2015.
Activities
In Washington D.C., DFER sent out attack ads against
Janeese Lewis George
Janeese Lewis George (born April 30, 1988) is an American lawyer, politician, and activist in Washington, D.C. She is the Member of the Council of the District of Columbia from Ward 4. George is a member of the Democratic Party.
Elected in N ...
, a progressive candidate for D.C. city council. After conducting polling that showed voters were concerned about crime, DFER ran mailers that claimed that George would
defund the police
"Defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and o ...
.
After the election, DFER apologized for its efforts.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Democrats for Education Reform website
Democratic Party (United States) organizations
United States political action committees