Jonathan Pelto writes that Connecticut has acquired yet another corporate reform group, disguised an nonpartisan and independent.
Pelto writes:
Like some type of gigantic octopus the pro-charter school, pro-common core, pro-SBAC Testing scheme and anti-teacher corporate education reform industry has set up multiple front groups, while dumping more than $7.9 million dollars into their lobbying effort on behalf of Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy’s “education reform” initiatives.
By now you’d think these hedge-fund managers and corporate executives would have created enough different groups in their effort to create the impression that they are more than they seem.
But that’s just not the way it works…
Connecticut’s education policy arena is being honored with the presence of yet another “reform” front group.
And as with their earlier pronouncements, the charter school and education reform industry is claiming that their latest front group is an “independent source of accurate data and information that transcends special interests.”
The newest corporate funded education reform group to invade Connecticut’s education policy debate is called the Connecticut School Finance Project and according to its PR:
“Founded in 2015, the nonprofit Connecticut School Finance Project strives to be a trusted, nonpartisan, and independent source of accurate data and information that transcends special interests.”
Independent?
Transcends special interests?
File under this one under – There is truly no lie that is too big for the charter school industry and its corporate education reform associates.
What makes Pelto so sure that this is just another corporate reform front group?
Well, it may be because the Chief Operating Officer of the Connecticut Council for Education Reform, one of the state’s leading advocates for Governor Malloy’s anti-teacher, anti-public school agenda, is the new Director and Founder of the Connecticut School Finance Project.
Don’t be fooled, Pelto warns. The corporate reform industry has a galaxy of organizations with misleading names, but no popular support for their agenda.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Writing in a blog to uncover pseudo groups will not be sufficient to halt their incursions. They seem to metastasize to every state. Is there no weffect way to confront them and call them out and publicize their ‘pseudness’?
I’ll make a prediction – backpack vouchers – the money follows the child. They won’t call them vouchers (polls poorly) but that will be the “fair funding” push of these lobbyists.
Is this the new ed reform political campaign? Stay tuned! 🙂
Nevada is almost there….Parent choice including home school. The child had to have been in public school for 100 days, the parent can take their voucher and home school, go to a private school, go to a religious school, the only thing unclear is whether or not they get the voucher every year after leaving the public school.
I wonder what state liability will be like.
Anyone can set up a school, right, if it includes homeschooling? So do daycare regs apply as far as basic issues like safety if a group of parents pool their vouchers set up a school and start recruiting? Will there be some kind of second tier regulatory regime to prevent people just packing kids into any situation they call a “school”?
We had a situation here where they set up a charter for disabled kids and the state sent the funds to the parents. Some of them kept the money and the county prosecutor had to get involved. They now send the funds to the charter, but I remember thinking it was insane to send checks to parents.
There will never be sufficient “non-profit corporate reform groups” until all the former pretend teachers (TFAers) have a job to go to when their 2 years is up. Some of the agencies with which they were employed have had cutbacks (eg., state departments of education) and they need somewhere to go, poor things.
Robert Tellman: based on deeds, not words, one of the salient characteristics of the self-proclaimed “education reform” movement is the creation of organizations that provide jobs for a few adults at the expense of the vast majority of children, their parents, and public school staffs and their associated communities.
$tudent $ucce$$—ain’t it grand?
😎
great said