ALEC Privatization Policy - Continuing Failure

The free-market approach to education, such as those pushed by ALEC state legislators is basically this:

If a charter school fails to perform, parents will remove their kids from the school and the school will be subsequently closed by the authorizer.

The free-market at work.

BUT – this doesn’t address the fact that

If a charter school fails to perform

     The children are harmed

     The children’s education is harmed.

The free-market may have worked – but at what cost to our children?

How often have you heard this statement being used when talking about public schools – "school fails to perform" -  NOT OFTEN – cause there are standards and oversight that are required by the public schools.

The ALEC privatization of education philosophy is failing.

Just like all the other ALEC privatization schemes to increase the profits of ALEC corporate members – the numbers are coming out and the school privatization plots is proving to be a failure.  The for-profit charter school failure statistics are now starting to be published - soon, the for-profit K-12 online learning failure statistics will start coming in.

All you have to do is look!!!

Just Google

charter school failures

charter school fails

charter schools fail

charter schools failure rate

And even so - ALEC state legislators keep pushing this privatization scheme of education.   Just this past week from Alaska

Republican Rep. Wes Keller has proposed changing Alaska's Constitution to allow public money to fund private schools. I'm guessing Rep. Keller hasn't read the notes of Alaska's constitutional convention delegates' explaining why private schools should not be funded with public money. (It's pages 1512 to 1525, if he'd like to take a look.)

The notion of "school choice" isn't some brainstorm from Rep. Keller or his like-minded buddies in Juneau. This is another bit of robo-legislating brought to us by the Koch-brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council.

They just won't give up - regardless of the horrendous results.  For ALEC legislators - it is all about serving their ALEC corporate masters.  It's about getting free scholarships to ALEC meetings at posh resorts for them and their families - paid for by their ALEC corporate masters.

The privatization of government services pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council is an utter failure.  All you have to do is take the time to look – the failures are published daily in the news. 

Privatization of government services

Destruction of unions

    Two of the many goals of ALEC

ALEC State legislators are pushing forward policy agendas that

Privatize government provided services

and 

Right to work laws and right to work constitutional amendments are showing up all around the US.  Right to work for less.

WHY?

ALEC state legislators have to push right to work (for less) to protect the revenues of their masters – the ALEC corporate profit sector members.

ALEC state legislators introduce legislation stealing your tax dollars and putting that money into failing for-profit charter schools for their ALEC corporate sector masters.

THEN ALEC state legislators introduce legislation to limit unions because their ALEC corporate members still feel they aren’t making enough money.

And now - - - - in the case of the privatization of public schools, ALEC state legislators have to push unionization destruction (right to work for less) harder than ever.

WHY?

Because you can approve for-profit charter schools in a state, you can close public schools – but - - - the teachers who end up having to teach at the for-profit charter schools are formidable, educated people – who refuse to work for the fast food wages and conditions required by for-profit charter schools.

In order to increase revenues, for-profit charter schools need teachers to work for fast food wages – cause for-profit charter schools exist for only one thing - profit.

For-profit charter schools teachers are finally taking a stand.

They are taking a stand that ALEC legislators knew was coming – the reason behind the right to work for less push by ALEC state legislators.

Charter school teachers are starting to unionize. 

About 90% of the nation’s charter schools are non-union. The charter owners want it that way.  …  Unions get in the way of the owner’s control over the lives of teachers. Owners also like high turnover as they can constantly replenish their staff with those at the bottom of the salary scale and never have pension obligations.

The AFT announced that teachers at a few charters have voted to unionize. It is a drop in the bucket. But an important drop. Factory owners fought to keep unions out 100 years ago. Workers rebelled. Will teachers? Or is there an endless supply of college graduates ready to work two years and move on?

Here is the AFT press release:

AFT Welcomes Charter School Educators in Michigan, California and New York

Washington—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten released a statement welcoming charter school educators into the AFT family following victories in Michigan, California and New York.

Based on this - - - -

You will see an even stronger push by ALEC state legislators for right to work for less laws/amendments – cause closing public schools and forcing our teachers into poor paying jobs in for-profit charter schools hasn’t achieve the intended ALEC objective – destruction of unions. 

Every day – in every way – YOUR ALEC legislator is only interested one thing – pushing a free-market philosophy.  ALEC legislators are continually pushing state legislation that is only concerned with increasing corporate profits.  Serving ALEC corporate masters – is more important to your ALEC state legislator than anything else and it’s to your benefit to remember that.