Mercedes Schneider is a master at tracking down financial records.
In this post, she shows the direct connections between the Sackler’s billions–derived from the sale of OxyContin–and the growth of the charter movement.
OxyContin is a highly addictive painkiller. It has been responsible thus far for more than 200,000 deaths.
The Sackler family is now being sued individually by the State Attorney General of Massachusetts, who claims that they knowingly pushed a drug that they knew to be deadly.
Meanwhile, museums, libraries, and universities are debating whether to keep the Sackler name on the buildings they endowed.
Some of the choice-promoting organizations that Sackler funded have a decidedly rightwing bent: the Philanthropy Roundtable is an organization of conservative foundations; the Alliance for School Choice; and the now-defunct Black Alliance for Educational Options were all fronts for DeVos-style privatization. The NewSchools Venture Fund is the uber-fund of chartering. Campbell Brown’s Partnership for Education Justice got $200,000 of Sackler money to attack teacher tenure and unions. Brown’s “The 74” website got a nice chuck of opioid money, as did KIPP and TFA. Lots more money for charters and charter promoters, including the faux “graduate” school called Relay. Oh, and money too for the libertarian Institute of Justice, which is to the right of DeVos.
So the money rolled in from opioids and went out the door to fund charter schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The money did fund charter schools but it also bought a professorship at Yale and it enriched coordinated campaigns funded by other billionaires to undermine public education…all in under the banner of doing good works, and getting tax deductions from the IRS.
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There should be a sign erected in the public space in front of all of the foundations funded by billionaires who plot for American oligarchy.
The sign- “We are parasites…we pay no taxes.” The first 4 foundations that should have the sign are Gates, Waltons, Koch’s and Arnold.
Police, fire, and municipal services should refuse to respond to calls from the foundations until laws are passed taxing them.
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“Every billionaire represents a policy failure.” – AOC aide
(1) The Sacklers- “Fed Chairman Powell says opiod crisis major drag on economy.”
(2) The Waltons- Monopoly retail, with community resources bled out to 6 Walton heirs who have wealth equivalent to 40% of Americans combined.
(3) John Arnold- Destruction of retirement incomes for public employees.
(4) Bill Gates -Commandeered the common good for the tech industry.
All of the preceding and the Koch brothers- robbed America of democracy.
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Linda, you skipped the source of Arnold’s billions: Enron.
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Birds of a feather flock together! All the dirty dealers that try to undermine democracy while making money and getting tax deductions.
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Today in the Louisville Courier Journal there was a lengthy letter published about why we need school choice. It was from Betsy DeVos and Ted Cruz. They are pushing hard in Kentucky.
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Western Kentucky University should be asked why they allow the school’s name to be listed with two of its public employees, Dr. Gary Houchens and Dr. Brian Strow at the Bluegrass Institute site. The two men are “Policy Scholars” for BIPPS.
There are 2 reasons it’s wrong.
(1) Employers who are interested in protecting their institutions’ reputations don’t permit their names to appear at controversial sites because it gives the appearance of institutional endorsement.
(2) Public institutions shouldn’t take political stands that make them hypocritical. The universities above are public. BIPPS advocates for privatization.
The same question should be asked of the University of Kentucky about BIPPS’ Policy Scholar, Dr. Garren and, the University of Louisville about Dr. Gohman
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