International Cinema Festival of India

The school system might be made to be overly profitable, says Bob Bowdon, however just at the expense of things comparable to teachers and students. In his education docudrama “The Cartel,” Bowdon, a TV news reporter in New Jersey, paints a notable ugly scene of the institutional depravation that has resulted in pretty much unbelievable wastes of taxpayer money. When $400,000 is spent per schoolroom, but reading proficiency is but 39% (and math at 40%), the crisis is apparent, which doesn’t signify it’s not controversial.

At hand are two major factions in Bowdon’s movie — the villains are pretty clearly the Jersey teachers union and school board who funnel 90 cents of every dollar away from teachers’ salaries and towards incidentals, including six-figure salaries for school administrators. On the other side are the supporters of charter schools — private schools that can maneuver beyond the control of what Bowdon calls The Cartel. Bowdon makes much of the fact that it’s almost impossible for an instructor to be fired, a safety net that does little to promote hard work in those teachers who discern they possess a vocation irrespective of how many of the three Rs they teach — if any.

“‘The Cartel’ examines lots of unique aspects of public teaching, tenure, funding, patronage drops, subversion –meaning larceny — vouchers and charter schools,” says Bowdon. “The expression education documentary could sound to some like ho-hum squared, but in fact the picture itself betrays an ardent passion for the plight of particularly inner-city children.”

“The Cartel” started fashioning the round of the festivals in summer 2009, and made its theatrical debut pretty much a year later, in spring 2010. The picture has started a lot of discussion, which ought no doubt go on with the more-recent release of “An Inconvenient Truth” director Davis Guggenheim’s own education expose, “Waiting for Superman.” Bowdon says the documentaries can be seen as companion pieces: his focusing on public policy and Guggenheim’s taking the human-interest slant. “My picture is the left-brained edition, more analytical,” Bowdon says, “‘Waiting for Superman’ is more the right-brained treatment.”

It is unquestionably analytical, couching its arguments in an assessment of how the money is being spent, or misspent. He follows the money to draw conclusions about how shameless the Jersey school system is, but his film features moments of elevated emotion and heartache. One girl, crying after learning she wasn’t selected in a lottery for a charter school, tells the story of What Went Wrong as well as Bowdon’s arguments.

And although it may be easy to admit the presence of corruption in a state so associated with organized crime, the uncomfortable fact of the subject is that this is a greatly familiar situation. A viewer anyplace in the country will discern similar failings in their own school system, and may share Bowdon’s frustration and readiness for a resolution. Bowdon puts his faith in the charter schools, where the taxpayer has influence over the kind and quality of instruction. But he also makes it obvious that those in power are going to be unwilling to give it up without a fight.

Townhall: The Cartel Movie, The New Jersey Teachers’ Cartel. A film by Bob Bowdon.