The Other ALECs' K-12 Education Agenda Exposed [View all]

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http://truth-out.org/news/item/10435-the-other-alecs-k-12-education-agenda-exposed

The Corporate Playbook for Public Education

In Part Two of this series we described a "corporate playbook" for influencing state-level legislation through nonprofit organizations like ALEC and CSG. As a reminder, the playbook works approximately like this (with variants depending on the group):

1. Donate to a "Group" (like CSG and/or ALEC), thus gaining access to the Groups' legislative membership.
2. Use corporate money to get lobbyists on boards and task forces associated with the Group.
3. Use lobbyists' positions on the task forces to set the education agenda for these Groups. Groups are where state-level legislators receive most of their job training.
4. Use free time at educational events to "schmooze" powerful legislative leaders.
5. Write, introduce and influence the passage of business-friendly model legislation through CSG and ALEC.
6. Lobby your model bills into enactments in as many states as possible.

This playbook process describes how state-level education policy is shaped by corporate America.

Most major Groups' education platforms reflect some aspect of the big-business model for education.

For instance, CSG seeks to build a "culture of entrepreneurship" and create a "skilled workforce" ready for 21st-century labor tasks. The NCSL Education Task Force promotes "flexibility," charter schools and "common academic standards" based on testing. ALEC's education task force promotes "efficiency" and "parental choice" in schools.

This whole article is a good read, it was tough to find a place to excerpt.