Same old story in North Carolina as elsewhere: big money from reactionary millionaires funding the theft of public education. American Federation for Children is based in Michigan. It supports vouchers.
Wake the town and tell the people.
Large, out-of-state donors fuel North Carolina’s school “choice” movement
More than $90,000 funneled to state legislative campaigns in 2012
By Lindsay Wagner
In March of 2012, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and ten other state lawmakers flew to Florida on the dime of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), an organization known for endorsing conservative education reform initiatives, including school vouchers.
In the year that has followed, North Carolina has absorbed a flood of more than $90,000 in campaign contributions to lawmakers friendly to the school choice movement.
The stated intent of last year’s trip was to educate North Carolina lawmakers about Florida’s tax credit scholarship program, which encourages companies to donate scholarship money for low-income children to attend private schools by providing matching state tax dollars. Critics of the Florida program say it’s a thinly-disguised voucher scheme that diverts funds from the public school system to send kids to private institutions that are not held to the same high standards applied to public schools.
The Florida trip, which cost $8,300, was clearly billed as “educational,” rather than “influential,” by PEFNC in an effort to ensure that the trip did not violate NC lobbying laws.
Since the Florida gathering, lawmakers in the North Carolina legislature have introduced more than 20 bills related to school choice. Rep. Marcus Brandon, one of the eleven lawmakers who went to Florida, argues that “it is unconstitutional not to give students a choice” when it comes to their education. He has introduced six bills related to school choice this session, including two bills that would bring vouchers to the state.
Brandon was also one of several lawmakers who, in 2012, received campaign donations from PEFNC’s PAC as well as individual PEFNC funders.
Though not indicative of any apparent unlawful activity or purpose, the story of where this money originated and how it flowed shines a revealing light on a movement that bills itself as a grassroots effort driven by the demands of average families.
American Federation for Children
Earlier this month, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a copy of the American Federation for Children’s (AFC) “2012 Election Impact Report.” The report reveals that AFC, a well-known national school choice advocacy organization, funneled more than $90,000 to the 2012 election campaigns of Republican and Democratic North Carolina lawmakers who support school choice, with the help of two local PACs in North Carolina.
Boston Review has an article on the state of education in Chile today http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.3/lili_loofbourow_chile_education_privatization.php
a situation exacerbated by US foreign policy under Reagan and Kissinger in the 80’s.
See “Confessions of an Economic HIt Man” by John Perkins. http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=confessions+of+an+economic+hit+man&mid=327E36E291A561EB1D9A327E36E291A561EB1D9A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE2&adlt=strict
Link to full story here: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2013/05/21/large-out-of-state-donors-fuel-north-carolinas-school-choice-movement/
“Rep. Marcus Brandon, one of the eleven lawmakers who went to Florida, argues that “it is unconstitutional not to give students a choice” when it comes to their education.”
M. Brandon is a constitutional idiot in regard to public education then! Hey, dude, quit imbibing the edudeformers cool-aid, it’s bad for your health.
Where I live in NC, the voucher amount won’t cover the cost of any private school I am aware of. So do they expect new private schools to open that can accept the voucher as payment in full? Can private school really operated on a voucher that is less than half of the public school per-pupil spending?
I heard the argument that private schools will provide scholarships to cover the difference, but I doubt if the best private schools will accept the hundreds of voucher-qualifying students who are several grades behind (and give them a ride to school and provide lunch, and before and after school care, etc).
Bingo, Durham. It will artificially create a “demand,” private schools will simply increase their tuition, and charter schools will be created to meet said demand.
That makes sense. I knew there had to be a wrinkle to this but I couldn’t figure it out- thanks for your reply.
The American Federation for Children
The American Federation for Children is a committee of mostly right-wing groups who want to advance the privatization of public schools and the expansion of voucher programs and charter schools.
Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Federation for Children was a “Trustee” level sponsor of 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council Annual Conference, which in 2010, equated to $5,000.[1]
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_American_Federation_for_Children
It seems that NC lawmakers who advocate choice have themselves sold their own right to choose what is good, and for what in the end? A new car? Dream vacation? Perhaps a new boat?
Nothing like investing in what will last.