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In reply to the discussion: Update x3: MICHIGAN: HOLY F*CKING SH*T. [View all]midnight
(26,624 posts)48. ALEC is busy this week in Washington...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021898343
This week in Washington, DC, Jeb Bush's "Foundation for Excellence in Education" (FEE) is meeting just five blocks away from the post-election conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the controversial corporate bill mill working on profitizing public education among other legislative changes, but the ties between the two groups are even closer.
Aptly named FEE, Bush's group is backed by many of the same for-profit school corporations that have funded ALEC and vote as equals with its legislators on templates to change laws governing America's public schools. FEE is also bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC. And, they have pushed many of the same changes to the law, which benefit their corporate benefactors and satisfy the free market fundamentalism of the billionaires whose tax-deductible charities underwrite the agenda of these two groups.
FEE and ALEC also have had some of the same "experts" as members or staff, part of the revolving door between right-wing groups. They have also collaborated on the annual ALEC education "report card" that grades states' allegiance to their policy agenda higher than actual student performance. That distorted report card also rewards states that push ALEC's beloved union-busting measures while giving low grades to states with students who actually perform best on standardized knowledge tests. As Dustin Bielke wrote for PRWatch earlier this year:
Imagine getting a report card from your teacher and finding out that you were graded not on how well you understood the course material or scored on the tests and assignments, but rather on to what extent you agreed with your teacher's strange public policy positions. That is the best way to understand (ALEC's) 17th Report Card on American Education. . . .
This week in Washington, DC, Jeb Bush's "Foundation for Excellence in Education" (FEE) is meeting just five blocks away from the post-election conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the controversial corporate bill mill working on profitizing public education among other legislative changes, but the ties between the two groups are even closer.
Aptly named FEE, Bush's group is backed by many of the same for-profit school corporations that have funded ALEC and vote as equals with its legislators on templates to change laws governing America's public schools. FEE is also bankrolled by many of the same hard-right foundations bent on privatizing public schools that have funded ALEC. And, they have pushed many of the same changes to the law, which benefit their corporate benefactors and satisfy the free market fundamentalism of the billionaires whose tax-deductible charities underwrite the agenda of these two groups.
FEE and ALEC also have had some of the same "experts" as members or staff, part of the revolving door between right-wing groups. They have also collaborated on the annual ALEC education "report card" that grades states' allegiance to their policy agenda higher than actual student performance. That distorted report card also rewards states that push ALEC's beloved union-busting measures while giving low grades to states with students who actually perform best on standardized knowledge tests. As Dustin Bielke wrote for PRWatch earlier this year:
Imagine getting a report card from your teacher and finding out that you were graded not on how well you understood the course material or scored on the tests and assignments, but rather on to what extent you agreed with your teacher's strange public policy positions. That is the best way to understand (ALEC's) 17th Report Card on American Education. . . .
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Wow! DUers Madflo, Proud2blibinKansas and others in the education field have been warning about this
riderinthestorm
Nov 2012
#5
These fools don't realize how dangerous the tea party is until it hits home with them
loudsue
Nov 2012
#23
As I watch the destruction of public education I envision a Charles Dicken's
snappyturtle
Nov 2012
#11
"manufacturing boot camps". Please consider turning your post into an OP. Thanks.
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#69
So the lowest 5% will be converted to charter schools, then the next time the lowest 5%
alfredo
Nov 2012
#35
nothing new in that; similar provisions were in Bush's No Child left behind & obama's race to the
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#72
yes, i've been saying that since i got here and long before. but it *is* happening, it *has been*
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#76
yes, they think charters will give them more control, but in fact it will ultimately give them much
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#91
The GOP, destroying America from the ground up. This is happening nationwide. Keep at 'em! Thanks.
freshwest
Nov 2012
#50
It's not the GOP. It's the ruling class, & they're bipartisan. Bush & Obama's education policys
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#70
I can't come up with the words to express how f*&ing wrong this is!!!! I left public school teaching
Dark n Stormy Knight
Nov 2012
#62
Please consider making this a separate OP with an attention-grabbing title. thanks.
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#71
Anyone that could would be leaving that state as property taxes will soar in a corporate
Ikonoklast
Nov 2012
#64
kr. These are boom days for "conspiracy theorists." I hope people will rally against this shit
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#68
that's funny. a press release that doesn't even pretend to deal with the issue which (i assume)
HiPointDem
Nov 2012
#84