Running through my morning Tweets over coffee I came across this one from Diane Ravitch.
DianeRavitch @KennethLibby These are all very conservative groups. Is he a Democrat for Ed Reform? In what sense of the word?
Interesting. So I went to Ken’s tweet.
KennethLibby ERN’s $50k from Ravenel Curry (III). Also gives to CER, Cato, Alliance for School Choice: http://is.gd/ePWyp Also likes Man. Institute, AEI
Translation into standard English:
Ravenel Curry III is a major funding source for Democrats for Education Reform. DFER is an influential so-called Reform lobby group for charters, KIPP, TFA and is rabidly anti-union. Libby points out that the ubber-WASPY named Ravenel Curry III also contributes heavily to such right-wing organizations as the Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute and the American Enterprise Institute.
Ravitch therefore asks an excellent question. What exactly is a Democrat for education reform if you can’t tell it or them apart from the most conservative think tanks in America?
And why is their agenda so much like that of the present Democratic administration?
Fred Klonsky 
So, a DFER is a person who claims that they are a Democrat, but behaves much like a conservative Republican who wants to do away with public education altogether while claiming that they are a advocate for public education. Got it. I think.