American Legislative Exchange Council/Free Market Principles/State Policy Network = Charter Schools

Dear Diane Ravitch,

What is a local school district's recourse of action when charter schools ignore local school board decisions and appeal to the State Charter Commission?

glen

That state commission is an ALEC strategy to gut local control. Dems must dismantle it and ally with a few Republicans who still believe in local control.

Diane

What is ALEC?

“…Coordinated efforts to introduce model legislation aimed at defunding and dismantling public schools is the signature work of this conservative organization.

“Technically, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It describes itself as a nonpartisan membership organization for those who share a common belief in ‘limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty.’

“More than 2,000 state lawmakers pay ALEC $100 for a two-year membership. While listed as nonpartisan, ALEC’s members definitely skew to the conservative end of the political spectrum. For example, of the 114 listed members of the group’s Education Task Force, 108 are Republicans, and only six are Democrats.

“Corporations, foundations, and ‘think tanks’ can join ALEC, too. They pay up to $25,000 in yearly dues and can spend more to sponsor the council’s meetings. Corporate members can also donate to each state’s scholarship fund, which reimburses legislators who travel to meetings. The scholarships can exceed the amount of a legislator’s dues. Corporate members also can pay from $3,000 to $10,000 for a seat on a task force.

“ALEC operates through nine task forces, each co-chaired by a corporate member and a legislative member. Task forces are divided by subject and bring together conservative policy makers with corporate leaders to develop model legislation. In order for a proposal to become model legislation, both the public and private sides of the committee must agree—granting considerable power to the corporate side. Elected officials then take the model bills back to their states to introduce them as their own. Only legislators who are members may access the model legislation. It is a very efficient mechanism for corporations to exercise political power—and they have.”

from A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education by Julie Underwood, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Julie F. Mead.

“Want to know who is pulling the strings of the corporate reform movement? Keep your eye on ALEC... This is a secretive group of about 2,000 state legislators, major corporations and far-right think tanks. The goal of ALEC is privatization and advancing the interests of corporations.

“ALEC drafts model laws and its members introduce them in their state, sometimes verbatim. ALEC has models for charter schools, vouchers, online charter schools, for-profit schools, and laws to weaken or eliminate collective bargaining, teacher tenure, and certification. It wants a Free Market…”

from What You Need to Know about ALEC by Diane Ravitch

What is a so-called Free Market?

…The free market theory caters to self-interested desires and profit to the detriment of other peoples’ lives, all the while promising “freedom and prosperity.” Free market principles advocate that the rich and poor should be taxed at the same flat rate, despite creating a vast inequity; that, for example, education, health care, retirement pensions, national parks (and most any function intrinsic to essential governing) become privatized; that publicly-owned companies, services and their assets be auctioned off to private investors; and that besides allocating vast amounts of wealth and resources from public to private ownership, that in the free market the transfer of private debts to the public sector while public ownership is systematically dismantled ironically continue…

from Global Free Market: A Perspective and  Admonition

What is the State Policy Network?

“State Policy Network has been a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for many years. According to the National Education Association (NEA), ‘ALEC utilizes the services of the State Policy Network as a clearinghouse to craft model legislation on conservative issues and to provide expert testimony in state capitols once bills are introduced.’ In addition, it notes, ‘ALEC and Heritage also serve as a media platform for these state-based think tanks to gain national press attention for research and the legislation and initiatives they introduce.’”

The Illinois affiliate of the State Policy Network is the Illinois Policy Institute.

State Policy Network

Charter Schools

“…Charters operate independently and autonomously, free from union work rules that prescribe everything from the length of the school day and school year to pension packages. Teachers' unions have seen them as a threat from the jump and have been tirelessly opposed: Not only are these non-union shops a threat to teachers' collective bargaining power, but charters also compete with district schools for tax money and other resources…

“Whether they are not-for-profit or for-profit, and they can be either, charter chains are businesslike—and they compete aggressively for students…”

from Invasion of the Charter Schools

The Right Leans In [to also Pass Major Legislation Expanding Virtual Education] by Lee Fang

“…When a group of for-profit education companies sought legislation allowing online charter schools greater access to taxpayer dollars, it hired dozens of state lobbyists from coast to coast. In addition, however, the virtual-school companies tapped State Policy Network (SPN) to provide academic studies, talking heads for the local media, flip-cam-equipped journalists to quiz critics, and busloads of activists at state capitols.

“Lobbyists with the school companies — including K12 Inc. and Connections Academy — drafted the legislation through ALEC. The State Policy Network groups acted, in essence, as ALEC's public relations team to promote the laws. And it worked: by the end of 2011, sixteen states had passed laws expanding virtual education. The flow of campaign dollars and closed-door influence peddling still happened, as in any traditional corporate campaign to pass major legislation. The difference in this case, however, was a well-oiled operation that could deliver the appearance of a groundswell in demand for proprietary online charter schools, when little public support existed. Worse, the lobbying by SPN-affiliated think tanks overshadowed serious questions about these charter-school businesses, which despite their soaring profit margins have been roundly criticized for abysmal test scores and high dropout rates. Together, these new state-level groups have remade the political map, providing ideological cover for extreme conservative policies once thought of as politically toxic…

“State Policy Network's organizations have also operated as fronts for corporations seeking to cloak their business interests under an ideological veneer… The pattern seen in the online education debate has been duplicated to pass corporate tax cuts, reductions to health and education programs, a rollback in state environmental laws, and other corporate and conservative priorities…

“State Policy Network was founded on March 24, 1992, in South Carolina by Thomas Roe, a wealthy businessman, Reagan adviser and leader of the South Carolina Policy Council, a state think tank modeled after the Heritage Foundation. Now headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, SPN began as an effort to mobilize more than twenty state think tanks. Political Research Associates, a left-leaning investigative team, reported that the group quickly became a "government-in-waiting" for the wave of Republican governors elected in 1994. As SPN affiliates proposed broad tax cuts and privatization schemes, the Republican governors frequently hired policy professionals from the think tanks to help enact those ideas…”

from The Right Leans In by Lee Fang

Charter schools simply don't work as well as the profit seekers would have us believe by Paul Buchheit

…Children as Products

“Leading capitalists like Bill Gates, Jeb Bush, Michael Bloomberg, Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee, who together have a few months teaching experience, have decided that the business model can pump out improved assembly line versions of our children.

“Charter schools simply don't work as well as the profit seekers would have us believe. The recently updated CREDO study at Stanford concluded again "CMOs (Charter Management Organizations) on average are not dramatically better than non-CMO schools in terms of their contributions to student learning." Approximately the same percentages of charters and non-charters are showing improvement (or lack of improvement) in reading and math. In addition, poorly-performing charters tend not to improve over time.

“Nevertheless, charter schools remain appealing to poorly informed parents. The schools like to represent themselves as equal opportunity educational options, but facts state the opposite, as many of them have strict application standards that ensure access to the most qualified students. Funding for such schools drains money out of the public system.

“Children are viewed as products in another way—on the school-to-prison pipeline. Many school districts employ "school resource officers" to patrol their hallways and to ticket, or arrest kids who disrupt the academic routine no matter the age of the offender, or the nature of the "offense:" A twelve-year-old was arrested for wearing too much perfume. A five-year-old was handcuffed for committing "battery" on a police officer. A six-year-old was called a "terrorist threat" for talking about shooting bubbles at a classmate.

“Along with these bizarre instances is the frightening precedent set by a private prison, Corrections Corporation of America, which, despite having no law enforcement authority, was allowed to participate in a drug sweep at a high school in Arizona…”

The entire article was published at Nation of Change: Five Poisons of Privatization by Paul Buchheit

Illinois Virtual Charter School/ Illinois Charter School Commission by Suzyn Price

I am a member of the Naperville Community Unit School District 203, one of the communities targeted by Illinois Virtual Charter School (IVCS). We considered without action the IVCS proposal at our [school board] meeting last night. The proposal was submitted to us in March, thus initiating an official 45-day process, at the end of which we have to make our decision. The first part of the process was the hearing on the submitted proposal, a proposal that included a contract that was not the official contract and was presented by a very unprepared staff member from K12, the for-profit education group that is the contractor to IVCS to provide curriculum and management of the charter school. Our administrators provided a list of about 150 questions, which is allowed by statute, and asked for responses by Thursday of that week. We received notification that they would not be able to provide answers by our April 1 meeting--no excuse, no reason, just not providing it. They hope to be able to provide responses by the time we make our decision on April 15. Here are my comments from last night:

Clearly, from their complete lack of interest in the charter guidelines and the process as defined by state law, the IVCS believes that it does not need to work with the Board and staff of school districts. Their lack of participation in this process, as evidenced by sending an unprepared staff member from their "contracting" organization, their unwillingness to respond to questions and the fact that they didn't even send us the real contract to consider, seems to indicate that they are either not really interested in working in Illinois, or they believe that there is another way that they can receive their charter.

In fact, there is. The Illinois Charter School Commission, a group that is under the Illinois State Board of Education, but not answerable to it nor to any other authority, has the ability to override the decisions of school districts when it comes to charter schools. In addition, keep in mind that K12, the for-profit education group, has given, according to one source, $36,000 in contributions to Illinois lawmakers in the past six years.

Please understand that the Illinois Charter School Commission has the ability to tell our school district that we must pay money to a charter school--money that does not come from the state or from the Illinois Charter School Commission--but from our local taxpayers through their property taxes. The Illinois Charter School Commission, an unelected group of individuals from around the state of Illinois, not from Naperville, has the ability to override the decisions of locally-elected officials, your school board members, representing the values and priorities of your community, to take money from your students and your schools to pay a for-profit company to provide education that has not in any way proven to be superior than what is provided by your district.

I think this is a shameful circumstance, and I encourage all of the people who have contacted us to contact their local legislators, the Governor, and members of the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Charter School Commission to tell them what they think of this situation. I know I will.

-Suzyn Price

For more information on this topic: please read

Charter schools and the future of public education by Stan Karp

Money Grab: Heather Steans, Chicago School Closings and K12 Inc. by John Laesch

It's More than Pheromones

“…I admit without shame
I'm talking about superficial beauty…”

                               -Stephen Dunn

They are not like other women,

and they know it.
They make us tremble,
hold our breath, wheel
and fantasize.
Everything is put on hold
when they enter a room.
Motion defies time,
and we moan.

They suffer
for this special advantage,
for needing our reassurance,
and we know
that it’s better to treat them
as if they were
unexceptional,
like the middling girl next door.

They’ll be surprised

by our indifference, relieved
of having to put forth
another effort.
They might allow us to approach,
attend to what we might ask of them,
offer us their loneliness
in return for not imploring.

And lucky we will be
to have had such women
in our lives,
when years from now
we unplug our lust
and drift perpetually in memory.

"It’s More than Pheromones” was originally published with a different title in Prairie Light Review, 1992.

C'est plus que les phéromones

"... Je l'avoue sans honte
que je parle beauté superficielle ... " 
                            -Stephen Dunn

Ils ne sont pas comme les autres femmes,

et ils le savent.
Ils nous font trembler,
retenir notre souffle, roue
et fantasmer.
Tout est mis en attente
quand ils entrent dans une pièce.
Mouvement défie le temps,
et nous gémissons.

Ils souffrent
de cet avantage spécial,
pour avoir besoin de notre réconfort,
et nous savons
qu'il vaut mieux les traiter
comme si elles étaient
rien d'exceptionnel,
comme la fille médiocre à côté.

Ils vont être surpris

par notre indifférence, soulagé
d'avoir à mettre en avant
un autre effort.
Ils pourraient nous permettre d'aborder,
attention à ce que nous pourrions leur demander,
nous offrir leur solitude
en retour pour ne pas implorer.

Et heureusement, nous serons
d'avoir eu ces femmes
dans nos vies,
lorsque ans à partir de maintenant
on débranche notre convoitise
et dériver perpétuellement en mémoire.

Money Grab: Heather Steans, Chicago School Closings and K12 Inc. by John Laesch

March 29, 2013

State Senator Heather Steans and Stand for Children are ultimately responsible for Chicago school closings and the recent increase of charter school applications like the 18-district virtual charter initiated by K12 Inc. in the Chicago suburbs… SB 79 and HB 5825… created and gave the Illinois Charter Commission super “override powers” and autonomy from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). If SB 7 gave education activists concern, SB 79 and HB 5825 should have started a five-alarm fire… K12 Inc. anticipates that the state charter commission will override local rejections of their taxpayer rip-off scheme and approve the charter despite overwhelming local opposition.

In Chicago, Rahm Emanuel took a more direct approach to help out his wealthy friends who want to replace Chicago public schools with profit-driven charter schools. Rahm’s unelected school board president, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, announced on March 21st that CPS would be closing 61 public schools. You can bet that profit-driven charters will be popping up to replace the recently-closed public schools. The Illinois Charter Commission created by SB 79 will pave the way. Rahm’s election and appointment of Byrd-Bennett brought this multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to the 10-yard line.

In a recent In These Times article, Kenzo Shabata explains Byrd-Bennett’s role as a “cleaner”: "Byrd-Bennett can be thought of as something of a 'cleaner…' In the school system of the neo-liberal era, the job of the cleaner is to close as many schools as possible and replace them with charter schools before the public catches on to the plan.'"

It should come as no surprise that Byrd-Bennett has connections to the profitable K12 Inc. According to a Sun-Times profile piece on Byrd-Bennett: “...She’s served as an adviser to K12, Inc., that Virginia-based for-profit company that serves up virtual and cyber schools. And she’s been on the board of Common Core. UNO Charter Schools chief Juan Rangel’s on that, too.”

…Steans, chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee…, could easily trade funding for a “yes vote” on SB 79… [H]er influential husband, Leo Smith, is a teacher at Perspectives Charter School and an ardent advocate for charters. Apparently Smith is a bit of a bully, as evidenced by his aberrant behavior and the interruption strategy he employed at a political opponents’ event in 2009 (Read the PSB account).

Over the course of four years, Steans and Smith donated $100,000 to Rod Blagojevich. Some have alleged that these contributions influenced her appointment to the state senate seat she now holds…

The $36,000 that K12 Inc. spent lobbying Springfield lawmakers over the past six years gets dwarfed by the $1.6M that Stand has spent buying access to Illinois lawmakers. The biggest investors in the charter school money grab are all hedge fund managers who have funded their front group, Stand for Children, a political action committee (PAC) in Illinois. We know that Stand gets its money from hedge fund managers and financial investment firms. We also know that Stand played a critical role in lobbying for SB 79 and HB 5825.

Stand [On] Children Supporters:

Madison Dearborn Partners LLC ($750,000), Crown Family ($580,000), Citadel Group ($500,000), Peak 6 Investments ($474,000), Pritzker Family ($250,000), DRW Trading ($130,000), Merrick Ventures LLC ($100,000), Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC ($100,000), Options House LLC ($26,000), and Leo Smith ($25,000) husband of Sen. Heather Steans. Total: $2,935,000.
[“Externalization is legally enshrined in the limited liability corporation (LLC), which cleverly enables risk-taking and pathologically encourages irresponsibility” (The Seven Deadly Sins of Capitalism by Darrin Drda)].

…The Steans family influence peddling to transform [the public] education system into a profitable business model doesn’t stop with Stand or an appointment to the Illinois Senate. An issue advocacy group cynically named, Advance Illinois, is yet another pro-charter group that works with lawmakers to craft legislation like SB 79 and HB 5825. (Do you remember Advance Illinois' push for SB 7?] It should come as no surprise that the organization is run by Robin Steans, Heather’s sister.

It should also come as no surprise to anyone that financial supporters of Advance Illinois are mega-millionaires and foundations connected to businesses seeking to make money off of profit-driven charters… Some of Advance Illinois Supporters include the Steans Family Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, CME Group Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert R. McCormack Foundation, and others…

A flaw in SB 79 didn’t allow the new charter commission to receive funding from ISBE. [However], Stand for Children, Steans, and State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia used HB 5825 to fix this oversight. After HB 5825 passed the House on March 28, 2012, Heather Steans added two significant amendments to the bill and passed it through the senate on May 22. The bill was sent back to Chapa LaVia’s committee after she filed Steans' two amendments. With the pension issue dominating discussions, the bill was temporarily stalled. During Veto session (November 2012 - January 2013), lawmakers pushed HB 5825 through the House Rules Committee, according to the League of Women Voters.

--John Laesch

from WBEZ: Charter-school agency’s funding raises questions

A new Illinois commission can authorize charter schools rejected by local officials. Its money comes from a foundation that backs charter schools.

December 2011

A new government agency could boost the number of charter schools in Illinois. But the way the agency is financing itself raises questions. The Illinois State Charter School Commission, created by a law enacted this summer, can authorize charter schools that fail to win approval of local school districts. The per-pupil state funding for the charter schools comes at the expense of the districts. The commission will also monitor the performance of schools it authorizes.

Despite the commission’s responsibilities, the state has not provided it any startup money. The only public-funding mechanism won’t be in place until July [2012], when the commission can begin collecting a fee from schools it authorizes…

The law that set up the commission allows it to raise private money. The commission’s sole funding so far is a $50,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which supports several Illinois charter school operators and their state trade group.

Told by WBEZ about this financing, Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said it created a conflict of interest. “This is really the rubber hitting the road — why we thought this was a bad law,” said Montgomery, whose union includes most K-12 teachers in Chicago. “The state should reconsider this. I don’t think the people of Illinois would stand for the gaming industry, say, to have the right to reverse a community’s decision not to allow a race track in its town. I don’t know why we wouldn’t give at least the same protections to the children of Illinois.”

A spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union, echoed Montgomery. But the law’s chief sponsor, state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said providing taxpayer funds for the commission’s launch would have been unpopular. “It was not going to make folks happy [to take] dollars away that could be going to the traditional public schools,” she said.

Other states have allowed charter school commissions to launch with private funding, Steans said. The Illinois State Board of Education doesn’t see a conflict with the commission accepting foundation money, according to board spokeswoman Mary Fergus. “If we had any information that specific strings were attached to the donation/funding, that would be a problem,” Fergus said in a statement.

Before the commission’s creation, charter school operators that failed to win authorization from local school districts could appeal to ISBE. That state board received dozens of appeals but, according to Fergus, it reversed a district and authorized a charter school just three times. Charter schools are independently run but depend on public funds. Most of their taxpayer support would otherwise go to local school districts…

The nine commission members — recommended by Gov. Pat Quinn and appointed by ISBE — are already holding official meetings and overseeing a staff member, [according to] attorney Jeanne Nowaczewski… The money for the commission’s staffing and other expenses so far comes from the Walton foundation. That family started Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Other recipients of Walton grants include the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, a statewide umbrella. The foundation reports that it gave the network more than $1 million in 2010. Andrew Broy, the network’s president, said the amount for 2011 is about $950,000. The network also serves as an intermediary — a “fiscal agent” in nonprofit parlance — for Walton’s funding of the state commission... [Commission Chairman] Richmond said Nowaczewski receives her paychecks from the network, not the commission. Richmond acknowledged that the Walton money could create the perception that the commission has a conflict of interest...