A few years ago, the corporate education movement seemed virtually unbeatable. It was lavishly funded; documentaries like Waiting for Superman and organizations like Teach for America helped give it a liberal, do-gooder gloss; and politicians across the political spectrum dedicated themselves to squeezing teachers’ unions, boosting charter schools, and talking up public-private partnerships.

But this year things look different. The corporate reformers still have lots of money to dump on local politicians, but they appear to be short on momentum. The Democratic Party establishment has distanced itself from Rahm Emanuel’s messianic battle with the Chicago Teachers Union. High-stakes testing is increasingly discredited. And on November 8, Massachusetts voters handily defeated Question 2 — a ballot proposal intended to lift the state’s cap on charter schools — despite corporate reformers pumping $23.6 million into the campaign.

So how did Massachusetts defeat the privatization juggernaut? To find out, Jacobin’s Ella Mahony spoke to Carlos Rojas Álvarez, the student field director for Save Our Public Schools Massachusetts, a grassroots coalition of students, parents, and educators. We talked about the danger Question 2 posed to public education; how student and teacher organizers grappled with the legacy of segregation and racist schools in Boston; and how “No on 2” helped lay the groundwork for new organizing against Trump.