Gates has spent close to a billion dollars buying "grass-roots" advocacy

“We’ve learned that school-level investments aren’t enough to drive systemic changes, The importance of advocacy has gotten clearer and clearer.”  -- Gates Foundation spokesman Allan C. Golston

According to a story by Sam Dillon in today's NYT, The Gates Foundation is using a big chunk of its multi-billion fund to pay teachers to testify at hearings in opposition to their own unions and in favor of more test-based accountability. Writes Dillon:

For years, Bill Gates focused his education philanthropy on overhauling large schools and opening small ones. His new strategy is more ambitious: overhauling the nation’s education policies. To that end, the foundation is financing educators to pose alternatives to union orthodoxies on issues like the seniority system and the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers.

In some cases, Mr. Gates is creating entirely new advocacy groups. The foundation is also paying Harvard-trained data specialists to work inside school districts, not only to crunch numbers but also to change practices. It is bankrolling many of the Washington analysts who interpret education issues for journalists and giving grants to some media organizations.