Aug 13, 2012
Walmart, Right-Wing Media Company Hold Star-Studded Benefit Promoting Education Reform Film
From In These Times by JOSH EIDELSON
As you read this article advising CBS is about to release TV “Special” on Parent Trigger laws, please keep in mind that these laws are ALEC model bills. Over the past 90 days most of the organizations supporting privatized education, long distance learning and accreditation of private schools and universities have dropped their membership(s) in ALEC. With such companies pulling membership and support from ALEC as these model bills that would directly benefit them are being pushed, it should be obvious that even they no longer support this extreme agenda.
CBS may have had this “special” in the pipeline for months and too much money invested to pull it from scheduling. Whatever the case, CBS watchers with a keen interest involving our education, should keep the exodus away from ALEC by key education organization as a reason to view this upcoming documentary with that in mind.
From the Eidelson article:
“Won’t Back Down is reportedly a highly sympathetic fictional portrayal of “parent trigger” laws, a major flashpoint in debates over education and collective bargaining. Under such laws, the submission of signatures from a majority of parents in a school triggers a “turnaround option,” which can mean the replacement of a unionized school with a non-union charter. Such laws have been passed in several states, but due to court challenges, the “trigger” process has never been fully implemented.
What many people who support Parent Trigger legislation are unaware of is that this legislation was created by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on behalf of several of their corporate members looking to capitalize off of privatizing public education, as explained in the article itself:
“Parent trigger is one of the model bills pushed by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Adamantly opposed by teachers unions, parent trigger bills (as I’ve reported for Salon) have often been spearheaded and supported by Democratic politicians. In a Wall Street Journalop-ed slamming teachers unions, Campbell Brown highlighted Won’t Back Down as evidence that “teachers unions have become a ripe target for reformers across the ideological spectrum” and Hollywood “has turned on unions.”
This is important legislation and a tool being used to shift public education funding from our schools to the corporate coffers of companies involved with ALEC. Just as Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group have profited billions off of ALEC’s criminal justice legislation that has been used to incarcerate nearly 2.5 million Americans and put many of those prisoners in the hands and beds of CCA, Geo and other, smaller prison companies. They have reaped huge profits due to their membership in ALEC over the years – off of taxpayer dollars spent on incarceration.
Over the past decade plus, these prison privatization successes has helped more profiteers target and actually get their hands on tax dollars spent on education. Don’t look for them to give up on this anytime soon. They’ll make billions and your children will receive less education for each tax dollar spent and it all begins with programming parents to believe public education is failing due to inept teachers. It is failing due to greed and a lack of funding as legislators loyal to ALEC and the corporations, reduce state money for education each year, making it “appear” to be failing.
Please take some time and peruse our site for more articles, expose’s and documented involvement of the ALEC cabal in privatizing our public education system.
Read the full ITT article here…
