Somebody put up at least $18,000 to run ads supporting the so-called Alabama Accountability Act.
A newly formed group called the Foundation for Accountability in Education spent the money but won’t disclose the donors, nor are they legally required to.
The act was rushed through by GOP legislators who had been negotiating with Democrats on a different bill. The at publicans pulled a bait and switch and passed a bill without bothering to show it to the members of the minority party.
The law establishes tax credits for private and parochial schools, effectively creating vouchers.
For the backers of corporate reform in New York and California, $18,000 is chump change. It usually costs them more.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, cannot open the link.
I fixed the link.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…
So, alabamaaccountability.com/ is owned by Domains by Proxy LLC, a company that has already been identified as engaging in troubling activities (in particular in the political domain, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domains_by_Proxy)
The organizations featured on Alabama Accountability’s website as “supporters” are Heritage Foundation, the Alabama Policy Institute, and The Business Council of Alabama. We already know enough about Hertitage – and hope someone around here from Alabama might chime in. The Alabama Policy Institute is lead by Gary Palmer, who is a self-described founding director of the State Policy Network – a subsidiary of ALEC. Their policy director, Cameron Smith, most recently worked for Rep. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Alabama Policy Network likes charters, vouchers, anti-union, and public funding for religious school.
In the article, two board members of Alabama Accountablity are mentioned, Kate Anderson and Ashley Newman. Is this the same Ashley Newman who is on the Board of Directors of Reform Alabama (http://reformalabama.org/about-us/board-of-directors/)? This org supports charter schools, merit pay for teachers, and teacher ed accountability based on teacher “performance.” And is Kate Anderson the same one profiled here http://yellowhammerpolitics.com/blog/power-influence-whos-next/ as someone who raised $5.7M for GOP candidates?
Inquiring minds want to know….
Accountability is for the little people …
It sounds like a Gut and Amend (G & A) to me. A gut and amend is a process in which at the last minute before the legislative vote on a bill after the supposed previous bill with that number on it has gone through the public review and committees it is stripped of everything that was previously in that bill and completely different language even having nothing to do with the previous bill with that number on it is inserted and voted on. Pretty slick isn’t it. This is a common practice.