Laura Chapman has done her usual fastidious research and discovered that the Koch Brothers are offering pocket change to anyone who will offer help for their propaganda campaign to persuade Hispanic parents that privatization of school funding is good for them.
She writes:
“The Libre Institute “research” program will pay $10,000 to academics and fellows who will offer the Institute papers that offer an “analysis and proposed policy initiatives rooted in values such as economic freedom and well-being, fiscal discipline, limited government, market entrepreneurship, and personal accountability.”
“To the extent possible, each analysis should examine federal and state-level policies related to each topic and the respective impact to Hispanics in those states. Particular states to be highlighted are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia. “
“The academics who are enlisted to do research on education for the Libre Institute are asked to “review School Choice regulations and their impact on closing the achievement gap between Hispanics and other demographics.”
“Other topics for the research initiative are:
“Health Care – explore the current Medicaid system and its ability to provide adequate health care services to Hispanics in the U.S.; alternatively, or in coordination with, an analysis of the regulations and taxes under the
“Affordable Care Act and its impact on U.S. Hispanics’ ability to access care, choice and overall economic impact;
“Regulation – examine impact of regulations on Hispanic small business owners and entrepreneurs’ ability to enter markets and succeed;
“Poverty – evaluate the success of current government policies and their ability to move Hispanics out of poverty;
“Immigration – study the economic goals behind Hispanic immigration to the U.S. and determine whether immigrant populations are achieving those goals and whether current policies are an impediment to success;
“Labor / Employment – investigate the current employment situation of Hispanics in the U.S., explore any changes in employment throughout the economic recovery as compared to other demographics, and analyze polices which may further exaggerate any differences.”
“Now here are a few of the strings attached to becoming a shill for the Libre Institute.
“Each paper will be peer reviewed by at least 2 scholars in the community prior to publication. ” (“In the community” scholars are not identified but it is obvious they must meet ideological criteria).
“Once released, each paper will be the subject of a roll-out campaign highlighting the topic of the analysis, and may include additional efforts including op-ed publications, local-level town halls and legislative briefings. It is envisioned that the author of the piece will participate in a select few of these efforts. ”
“Authors will be expected to provide a non-exclusive, but otherwise unlimited license to The LIBRE Institute so that it can publicize and otherwise use the material as part of its public education activities. Authors will be encouraged to submit their pieces for publication in other journals after the paper has been published and released by The LIBRE Institute.”
“The Libre Institute is not really interested in research. It wants propaganda points annotated with some references.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The worst part of this is that they will very likely have no problem finding a few academics (George Mason faculty members, e.g.) willing to discard scholarly disinterest and prostitute themselves for this crap.
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In my experience from working with many poor Hispanics, one of the most effective ways to move families out of poverty is to provide them with strong well funded public education for their children in a supportive, integrated school system. It is possible for young people from poor Hispanic families to enter the middle class in a single generation. Many of my former ELLs have done this. They are social workers, teachers, doctors, mechanics, cosmetologists and small business owners. These are the evolutionary outcomes of many of my former Hispanic and Haitian students.
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While I’m no fan of the privatization/charterization of schools using public funds, favored by the political right, I’m also no fan of the leftist indoctrination ubiquitous in the vast majority of public schools today, especially that which engages in balkanizing HIspanic and other “minority” groups away from what public schools used to do quite well–promote the values highlighted in our Founding documents abd aim for what used to be termed the “common good”.
Please refer to Dennis Prager’s “A Speech Every American High School Prinicipal Should Give” which is easily found online. Those are the guiding principles every school, public or private, should inculcate in students.
Prager is a JFK/HST- style liberal like me, which by today’s definition, is a “right-wing” conservative.
I didn’t leave the noble and American desire for public education–public education left me.
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I followed Kael’s advice and read Dennis Prager’s “A Speech Every American High School Prinicipal Should Give.”
The speech asserts that the only views that matter in the school are those of the principal. The principal alone knows what it means to be an American.
Then I looked at Dennis Prager’s website, devoted to marketing Dennis Prager as a speaker, a radio TV personality, his books, and those of likeminded others.
Then i read about PragerU and examined some of the videos that you can view online and receive a certificate for doing that–if you sign up. Prager U videos are advertised as “short.”
The founders and funders of PragerU made big money in the oil industry. PragerU is a non-profit. PragerU is not an accredited university.
In a recent effort, PragerU is trying to expand and migrate the video collection to schools. So far, private religious schools are the main takers. Fortunately only a few public schools have been recruited.
There is much more about Prager on the internet. Here is the source for some of my information beyond that gleaned from the Prager website.
https://rewire.news/article/2015/04/30/conservatives-spend-millions-proselytizing-school-children/
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Prager is a rightwing radio talking head.
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“The speech asserts that the only views that matter in the school are those of the principal. The principal alone knows what it means to be an American.”
……..
WHAT!! I’ve worked in five different school districts as a traveling elementary music teacher. Each district had between one to eleven different schools in which I would teach. A few principals were outstanding in their support of staff. These rare ones would openly care about the well being of each teacher and the students. I guess I could say that these few would represent the best in America.
The rest had all sorts of power problems. Some were blatantly domineering and micromanaged everything. Some worked as though they hated the teachers under their command. Some wanted to prove their abilities and told us exactly where we stood and it was never any good. Some were lazy and left all the work to the secretary.
I see no connection between most principals and the meaning of being an American unless corporate takeover of democracy is the goal.
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As a devoted reader and fan of Diane’s scholarship and position as one of our very best education historians, I’m disappointed that she dismisses Prager and like-minded people with simplistic “right-winger talk-show host” labels, without addressing the substance of the arguments. There is certainly room for reasonable and cogent debate. The ideal of a color-blind (and ethnicity-blind) society built on shared transcendant values, as opposed to blood/ethnicity, is a truly liberal point of view, but certainly not leftist, which supports a perverse reverse racism. Stop dismissing and labeling. Reprint the Prager principal speech and debate it point by point. Better yet, I and many others would love to see Diane speak to Dennis Prager about these vital issues. We need the best minds out there, let the public decide.
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Many (not all) Hispanics are Roman Catholics. Some (not all) Hispanics would be delighted to have their children opt-out of publicly-operated schools, and enroll their children in quality Roman Catholic-operated schools. Polls in California, suggest that nearly 80% of the respondents were in favor of school choice.
Selling school choice to Hispanics, should be a “piece of cake”!!
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