If you read this article about how online companies bought American education, you would not be at all shocked or surprised by the scandal in Maine. There, the state commissioner of education is following the instructions of Jeb Bush’s education advisor and implementing the ALEC model legislation to change the laws to bring in for-profit online corporations.
Corporations will make millions. Many children in Maine will get a lousy education, and the taxpayers in Maine will be ripped off.
That’s known these days as reform.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I read the article from the Maine newspaper. Isn’t this in theory how the common core standards will operate? Teachers/administrators receive CCSS teaching material aligned to CCSS from private organizations.
Isn’t this the same idea? Is there any significant difference in this directing of on line education and the education provided/directed by common core providers and the consortia?
I’m just thinking this is the future of education. Collaboration with private entities with taxpayer money that crosses state lines. Am I on the right track?
Intereducation!
Intermiseducation!
This is also happening in Virginia. The Governor here is using the same ALEC template, and K12, Inc. is a heavy contributor to not only the Governor’s campaign but to other Republicans in a position to push this agenda. It is disgusting, yet no one seems to be catching on or objecting. I recently tried to get a young education reporter for a more or less liberal newspaper in the state to dig into the connections, but so far, I haven’t seen any evidence that she is following up on the leads I have offered her. It is so frustrating, but I am heartened to know that you keep up the drumbeat in your blog, so perhaps someday soon, people will start to get it. I certainly hope so. I just keep praying that it won’t be too late for the kids who are being subjected to these schemes.
Yep, there’s money to be made . . .
and Jeb is there to give the April 18th keynote . . .
Check out this agenda for the 2013 Education Summit in Arizona.
http://edinnovation.asu.edu/accommodations/
The April 17th panel at 4:35 p.m. will include Ron Packard (of K12 Inc.) and other profiteers discussing, “A Class of Their Own: From Seed to Scale in a Decade: What Does it take for an Education Company to Reach $$$1Billion?”
Check out the who’s who list of CEOs and their elected friends networking to the online charter school profits. The Trojan horse philanthropists , Gates and Milken, will be there too. http://edinnovation.asu.edu
I wonder what they will discuss in the session . . . .
“The Fall of the Wall: Capital Flows to Education: What sectors and companies are attracting investment?”
Margaret Thatcher may have been a milk snatcher . . but don’t let Jeb fool you, he is poised to take it all . . and give it to his CEO buddies.
Thanks to the Maine Sunday Telegram, Commissioner Bowen’s privatization scheme has been outed.
Yes, but we here in Maine still have to defeat it and the other awful policies he and LePage are foisting on the public by using strong-arm party-line voting in the legislature. I hope that exposes like this, as well as LePage’s well known bullying and lying will lead to a GOP-Tea Party defeat in the coming elections and in 2014 when we vote for governor.
What’s so fascinating is how the Tea Party seems so easily pulled into these corporatizing schemes, given all their rhetoric and yelling about smaller government and individualism. From their actions, you think the American Revolution was about selling-out America to the British East India Company.
It may take some time and a team of lawyers (I know) to craft a novel legal strategy to put an end to this lunacy. I’m holding out hope. I feel for the kids. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve never been subjected to a lousy education, nor have I subjected my students to one. We’ve all had a few teachers, who yes, may have fallen short. But it was not a constant for four years. No one I know was subject to four years of bad teaching and teachers. Sadly, this appears to be the fate of students in a number of states. Too bad a lawsuit can’t be filed to stop this. This does not bode well. Perhaps these charters should be required to provide a bond or some guarantee, so that when remediation is necessary, it will be the charters who pay and not us. Too bad we can’t personally sue state officials and legislators. They might cause them to think twice and slow passage of laws like this down. For some reason…I’m thinking they’ll going to fall short. Real short.
“Sadly, this appears to be the fate of students in a number of states.”
Yes, the ones that promote using TFAers, online learning, for-profit charter schools (even not for profit charters as they then “farm out” management to private firms), are union-less and are no due process states..
Today’s Press Herald has another article on this subject, summarizing the research showing that virtual charters are a complete failure:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/studies-existing-full-time-virtual-schools-earn-poor-grades_2012-09-02.html
Also in the Maine context is the governor/legislature’s move to dismantle the very low cost MEABT health insurance plan administered by the Maine Education Ass’n. the competition is a plan administered by school managers. Do the math on this one and you can see how devastating the attack could be, a union-buster on steroids. Check out developments at website, maine.nea.org .
In NYC, Aventa, the most widely used program for iLearnNYC (nearly 200 schools participating for the 2012-13 year), is subsidiary of K12 Inc.