Politico reports that Betsy DeVos thanked her ideological bedfellow, ALEC, for its help in framing proposals to defund public schools (aka vouchers, opportunity scholarships, tax credits, education savings accounts, a rose by any other name, etc.).
ALEC is the far-right extremist libertarian organization that hates public schools, gun control, unions, environmental regulations, and anything else that infringes on the right of corporations to pursue profits without regard to consequences. ALEC is also a strong supporter of charter schools.
DEVOS IS SCHEDULED TO THANK ALEC FOR EDUCATION FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT in a speech to the council’s conference in Arizona today, the Education Department said. The proposal, which has found little traction in Congress, would create a new $5 billion federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations to pay for students to attend private schools or expand their public education options.
— DeVos is a longtime friend to ALEC’s group of conservative state legislators. The secretary’s addressed the group’s conferences before, and drawn protests with a push for local control of education issues.
— Arizona unionists have planned extended protests at ALEC’s conference, and have been aware that DeVos would be visiting.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
. . . it’s taking on the look of a scandal. Watch ALEC, if they haven’t already, they will branch out with other Orwellian names. CBK
“DEVOS IS SCHEDULED TO THANK ALEC FOR EDUCATION FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT in a speech to the council’s conference in Arizona today, the Education Department said. The proposal, which has found little traction in Congress, would create a new $5 billion federal tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations to pay for students to attend private schools or expand their public education options.”
Still working hard for students in public schools, I see.
Can anyone point to anything she has accomplished that has benefited any public school student, anywhere?
DeVos is a member of ALEC, and she has her own page on ALEC’s website. As such, she is a leader in the real Deep State that is funded and led by billionaires like her and the Koch family.
https://www.alec.org/person/secretary-betsy-devos/
Can’t refer to the Koch brothers, Charles and David, anymore because David is dead, long live the manipulating, subversive, lying want-to-be tyrant maker.
Who will lead the subversive Deep State Koch machine once Charles is gone? I have read that Charles’s son is in line to inherit the Deep State throne but David’s nephew is also in line to inherit that subversive king maker title.
“Koch Docs: How Charles Koch has Consumed ALEC”
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/koch-docs-how-charles-koch-consumed-alec-american-legislative-exchange-council/
Have the state Catholic Conferences and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Betsy to omit their names from her thank you’s? The bishops reportedly met with her and have self-admittedly been strong supporters of parental school choice from the beginning of the campaign. The Catholic hierarchy does not respect American democracy. Sixty-six
percent of the population want separation of church and state.
It’s no surprise that the Koch network praises Catholic schools. A theocracy seems to have been the plan of Paul Weyrich (Catholic) who founded ALEC and who co-founded the religious right with Jerry Falwell.
Lawsuit threatens the existence of the secretive rightwing bill mill ALEC: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/04/alec-rightwing-group-lawsuit
LeftCoast: Thanks for posting this article from the Guardian–so glad to hear it. CBK
Thanks for the link. I sent it on to ALEC’s representative- the Koch’ man for my House district.
Also from the Guardian, by the way: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/dec/05/schools-monitor-students-online-activity
DeVos’ ALEC ties run deep. These are two posts I wrote just before her confirmation hearings:
Will DeVos Disclose ALEC Lobbying Prior to Senate Vote?
https://eduresearcher.com/2017/01/17/devos/ and
DeVos’ ALEC Roots Revealed in Response to Senator Murray’s Question
https://eduresearcher.com/2017/02/05/alec_devos/
Thank you, Roxana.
The article quotes CAP, the organization that backs charter schools, that has a former Aspira of Illinois guy heading its Puerto Rican tentacle, that has as its board chair, the guy who created Bipartisan Policy Center, a lobby shop that has as sponsors for some of its higher ed activities- Gates and Arnold.
This is so true.
https://bustedpencils.com/2017/01/public-education-spectre-fascism/
Public Education and the Spectre of Fascism
Posted January 6, 2017 by Rebel Teacher
Thanks for the link. The comments section at the site requires Facebook log-in which I won’t do. If I added comment to the blogger’s history of privatization, I would add the role of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who self identify as strong advocates (since the beginning) of the parental school choice campaign.