Maurice Cunningham, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts, specializes in exposing the role of Dark Money in education. If you read my book, Slaying Goliath, you know that Cunningham’s research and blog posts helped to turn the tide against a state referendum in 2016 to expand the number of charter schools in Massachusetts. Cunningham showed that “Yes on Two” Organization was funded by billionaires and that the billionaires were hiding their identities. Despite being outspent, the parent-teacher-local school committee won handily.
In this post, originally from February, Cunningham explains why the Waltons and Charles Koch are so devoted to privatizing public school governance. He’s right that they want to lower their taxes. They also want to smash teachers’ unions; more than 90% of charters are non-union. The corporate sector doesn’t like unions, and most private unions have been eliminated. The teachers’ unions are still standing, which annoys the billionaires.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In all the voucher marketing and cheerleading in ed reform they never mention the dollar value of the voucher system they’re all pushing.
There’s a reason for that- it’s a MASSIVE decrease in funding for public education:
“Vouchers are worth up to $4,650, not to exceed the private school’s actual tuition and fees. Families may receive 75 percent ($3,487.50) and 50 percent ($2,325) vouchers if they are renewing their child’s Income-Based Scholarship and earn up to 300 percent and 400 percent, respectively, of the federal poverty level.”
High poverty public school districts in Ohio receive much more funding than that.
The Kochs and Waltons support ed reform because ed reform’s goals will cut public investment in education in half.
The next time ed reformers hold another forum pushing vouchers ask them to commit to a value for vouchers- a number. Then compare that number to levels of current public school funding. It’s a massive cut.
They sometimes brag about this- that vouchers will provide educational services to low and middle income families on the cheap. Less so now, but all of the original proposals promised huge savings on public education investment. Guess who will be tapped to fill in that gap? Families. Just like what happened in higher ed. They’ll issue loans.
We all know by now that the ed reform talking point that families can “choose the same schools wealthier families choose” with a voucher is not true, right?
They know this. They know the low value vouchers they push won’t even cover current public school outlays, let alone Sidwell Friends tuition.
It’s a mechanism to do a massive cut in public funding for low and middle income children and inequity will skyrocket, just as it has in higher ed.
Get ready for student loans for K-12. You’ll need them when this “movement” succeeds.
Under the guise of so-called choice, vouchers are a form of disinvestment in the children of working families. It is a further erosion the common good. A cheap voucher will get students a worse education than the education found in most public schools. There is no guarantee of students of getting professionally trained teachers or an legal protections that public schools provide. Parents should understand that billionaires are not looking out for the best interests of their children.
The end game is the conversion of a civil democratic educated society back into a capital controlled corporate colony.
You’ll take your 4200 dollar voucher and go purchase educational services. It’s half of what you used to get, but let’s not dwell on dull things like “numbers” when we’re all busy “innovating”.
They’re all big picture creatives. They can’t be bothered with the difference between 10000 and 4200. Details!
If you’re really working on “equity” would you be promoting policy that is a massive funding cut to low and middle income students? No, right? Or are they all innumerate? Because it’s one or the other.
scary reality: corporate colonies
Looks like ed reform lobbied to ensure (public) school students sit for standardized tests this year.
Once again and even in a pandemic, the only thing they offer public school students and families is testing.
Sum total of this “movements” contribution to our schools in this crisis? A standardized testing mandate. No support or assistance of any kind, but they managed to get their single policy priority that applies to our students done.
I look forward to “testing season” in the spring and then the public school bashing that commences after that. Same as every other year.
Posted at OEN
https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Two-and-a-Half-Ways-Maybe-in-General_News-Corporate_Democratic-National-Committee_Democratic-Party_Privatization-Of-Schools-200904-504.html#comment773472
I have been having trouble commenting on this issue lately because it’s overwhelming to watch dark money destroying civilization. It’s terrifying. What more is there to say?