Cracking the Story about Money Behind Charter Referenda
Some investigative journalist is going to win major prizes for breaking open the story about the money and the motives of those promoting privatization of public education.
Motoko Rich drops tantalizing hints in her story in the New York Times. We learn that the charter referendum in Georgia was funded by “out-of-state donors, including Alice Walton, the daughter of the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton; Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers; and several companies that manage charter schools. Supporters of the amendment outspent opponents by about 15 to 1.”
The Georgia amendment was based on ALEC model legislation.
In Washington state, “Donors included Ms. Walton, the Bezos foundation, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the co-founders of Microsoft. They raised millions of dollars to promote the ballot initiative…” Also involved, we learned, was Democrats for Education Reform, the Wall Street hedge fund managers organization, and Stand for Children, which stands for equity investors.
Who coordinates these fund-raisers? Who else is involved? How do they manage to present themselves as liberals and supporters of “the civil rights issue of our era” in alliance with far-right groups? And why are they so intent on privatization when the evidence is clear that charters don’t produce better education than public schools?
And how can the Obama administration support a movement tied to the far-right that worked to defeat him?
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