Take action to stop the privatization of PA's public schools

From our friends at the Keystone State Education Coalition

VOUCHER ALERT:

A voucher bill may move in the House as early as Monday.

The Students First PAC which bankrolled SB 1 in the Senate, is targeting House Republican leadership for phone calls today for a last ditch push for vouchers before the end of the year.

Please consider taking these three actions ASAP:

1. Contact your State Representative’s office.

Ask them to oppose any voucher bill.

Ask them to contact House leadership and tell them not to bring a voucher bill to the floor.

2. Pass this legislative alert on to any and all public education stakeholders today.

3. Please take 10 minutes and call as many of these House Leaders as time permits.

If you are a constituent please let them know that.

If you voted for them or worked for their election let them know that.

Simple message:

Please oppose vouchers in any form. We don’t need a pilot – Milwaukee has had one for 20 years and it has not resulted in improved student achievement. Pennsylvania education policy should focus on helping all of our students, not on creating a new entitlement program for unaccountable private and religious schools.

Samuel H. Smith (717) 787-3845
Mike Turzai (717) 772-9943
Stan Saylor (717) 783-6426
Sandra Major (717) 783-2910
Mike Vereb (717) 705-7164
William F. Adolph Jr. (717) 787-1248
Richard R. Stevenson (717) 783-6438
Dave Reed (717) 705-7173

PA Opposes Vouchers

View this simple and clear chart to see what Pennsylvanians want for solutions in our our schools. Hint: It's not vouchers.

Poll Shows PA Doesn't Want Vouchers or Corbett's Education Cuts

PUBLIC OPINION POLL FINDS WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR PROVEN SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES, OPPOSITION TO STATE FUNDING CUTS FOR PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

HARRISBURG (Oct. 5, 2011) – By a wide margin, Pennsylvanians oppose recent state funding cuts to public education and support investments in programs that work, according to a new public opinion poll.

Pennsylvanians strongly support investing in tutoring students, reducing class sizes and making schools safer. By a similarly wide margin, Pennsylvanians oppose creating a taxpayer-funded voucher system for private and religious schools.

Those are the findings of the latest Terry Madonna Opinion Research survey, released today by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). The results are available today on PSEA’s website, www.psea.org.

“By a nearly two-to-one margin, Pennsylvanians oppose the recent funding cuts to the Commonwealth’s public schools,” said PSEA President Michael J. Crossey. “They overwhelmingly support recommendations in Solutions That Work, PSEA’s blueprint for education reform. And it is clear they don’t support tuition vouchers.”

The Madonna poll asked Pennsylvanians for their views regarding the $860 million cut from public schools as part of the state budget Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law last June. Sixty-nine percent said they oppose or strongly oppose these cuts, while only 27 percent said they favor or strongly favor the action.

The Madonna poll then asked survey respondents to give their opinion on how state funds for education should be used if the cuts were restored.

The respondents favored or strongly favored “more individualized student attention and tutoring” (89 percent),reduced class sizes (88 percent), and “programs to help make schools safer” (85 percent). They also favored: alternative placement for disruptive/violent students (85 percent); “pre- and full-day kindergarten” (73 percent); and “programs to coordinate school, community and law enforcement programs”(79 percent).At the same time, the poll results establish Pennsylvanians oppose “a voucher plan to send students to private, religious and parochial schools.” Fifty-nine percent said they were “strongly opposed or somewhat opposed” to vouchers, while only 38 percent were in favor of such plans.

The programs supported by the respondents, tutoring, smaller classes, safe school and alternative student placement pre- and full-day kindergarten, and coordinated school/community strategies are all included in PSEA’s school reform agenda, “Solutions That Work.” Read more about “Solutions That Work” at www.solutionsthatwork.org.

Crossey said, “These findings show the public backs common-sense, research-based strategies to improve education, and providing schools with adequate, equitable resources.”

A report released last month from two groups representing school administrators and business managers detailed how state funding cuts to Pennsylvania’s public schools have resulted in larger classes, reduced course offerings and tutoring opportunities, as the school year began this fall.

“The Madonna poll is yet the latest indication that Pennsylvanians believe the governor and state lawmakers need to change direction when it comes to education priorities,” said Crossey.

The poll presents the findings of a survey of 801 Pennsylvania adults designed by Terry Madonna Opinion Research and conducted September 2011. The sample error for the total sample is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

Crossey is a special education teacher in the Keystone Oaks School District. A state affiliate of the National Education Association, PSEA represents approximately 193,000 future, active and retired teachers and school employees, and health care workers in Pennsylvania.

Today's News Clips, July 1, 2012

News Clips from America Votes

Friday, July 1, 2011

News Clips

COLORADO: Judge affirms Interior’s right to reject federal oil and gas leases due to environmental impacts

David Williams for the Colorado Independent

Conservation groups were elated Wednesday by a U.S. District Court decision in Wyoming affirming the Interior Department’s ability to weigh environmental impacts when issuing oil and gas leases on public lands – as long as it does so in a timely fashion.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal made the ruling in a lawsuit filed by the oil and gas industry over a backlog of U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leases in Utah and Wyoming. She ruled the DOI can consider impacts to air, water, land and wildlife habitat when deciding whether or not to issue oil and gas leases, but must do so within 60 days of the lease auction.

“This underscores the importance of balanced safeguards put in place by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to ensure that the public gets a say before our lands are put up for sale to the oil and gas industry,” said Bill Eikenberry, a Wyoming rancher and former associate state director of the BLM in Wyoming.

Read More: http://coloradoindependent.com/92740/judge-affirms-interiors-right-to-reject-federal-oil-and-gas-leases-due-to-enviromental-impacts

FLORIDA: At first GOP Senate debate, 'Crist' tossed around like a dirty word

Adam Smith for the St. Petersburg Times

ST. PETERSBURG — He has been off the public stage for nearly seven months and yet Charlie Crist's shadow still looms over the Florida GOP.

The main Republican candidates for U.S. Senate held their first debate Thursday, and it sometimes felt like a game of who could sound most disdainful of the ex-governor.

"I never supported Charlie Crist in his U.S. Senate race despite a lot of pressure to do that,'' stressed state Senate President Mike Haridopolos.

Read More: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/at-first-gop-senate-debate-crist-tossed-around-like-a-dirty-word/1178164

MICHIGAN: Michigan Senate tightens teacher tenure

Karen Bouffard for the Detroit News

Lansing— The Legislature ended its first 180 days in session late Thursday, altering teacher tenure rules and passing a bill that caps how much taxpayers can pay on health care for public workers and elected officials — including state lawmakers.

Teachers will be easier to fire and demote under the four-bill package passed by the Senate and swiftly approved by the House over strenuous objections from Democrats and teachers.

The reforms roll back decades of union-won protections for teachers, who milled in the halls outside the Senate chamber and thronged the gallery as the votes were cast late Thursday.

Read More: http://detnews.com/article/20110701/SCHOOLS/107010394/Michigan-Senate-tightens-teacher-tenure#ixzz1QrEHXeyJ

MINNESOTA: Broken deals, bitter words and a state shuts down

Baird Helgeson, Mike Kaszuba, Eric Roper and Rachel Stassen-Berger for the Star Tribune

Talks imploded Thursday between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders in the final hours before a midnight deadline, and Minnesota began a historic government shutdown.

"This is a night of deep sorrow for me," Dayton said in an address at 10 p.m. that was punctuated by jeers and hisses from Republicans, including some lawmakers.

The governor said his last offer would have raised income taxes only on those earning more than $1 million a year -- an estimated 7,700 Minnesotans, or 0.3 percent of all taxpayers, according to the Revenue Department.

Read More: http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/124824189.html

NEVADA: State budget, more than 230 bills take effect today

Cy Ryan for the Las Vegas Sun

Carson City — A state budget and more than 230 bills passed by the 2011 Legislature take effect today, as the government’s fiscal year begins.

The effects will be far-reaching, as state agencies get their first infusion of the $3.1 billion annual budget.

State and university workers will be paid less. Counties will begin to shoulder the cost of programs that the state had funded in the past.

Read More: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jul/01/budget-bills-start-be-felt-today/

NEW HAMPSHIRE: EDITORIAL: Stop sugar-coating the education cuts

Concord Monitor

To downplay the impact that devastating budget cuts will have on higher education and the state's students, Republicans have had to employ some tortured logic.

Consider Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Morse's argument that it's unfair to blame the Legislature for the financial troubles afflicting New Hampshire's university system, since state funding accounts for such a small share of college budgets. That's a bit like telling a starving man that, since all we ever give you is a slice of bread anyway, giving you half a slice won't make much difference.

New Hampshire was already dead last in the percentage of funding its public universities get from state government before the current budget cut. The $10.2 billion biennial budget, which became law without Gov. John Lynch's signature, cuts annual funding for the university system by $48.4 million or roughly in half.

Read More: http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/265885/stop-sugar-coating-the-education-cuts?CSAuthResp=%3Asession%3ACSUserId|CSGroupId%3Aapproved%3ABA4A9537C4BF4594E11F4B09D8217743&CSUserId=94&CSGroupId=1

OHIO: Gov. John Kasich signs two-year state budget, but vetoes seven items first

Joe Guillen for the Plain Dealer

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich put the finishing touches on the state budget Thursday, using his veto power to carve out several provisions from the bill before signing it into law.

Kasich's vetoes did not drastically alter the two-year spending plan, but they will play a role in the future sale of six Ohio prisons, the state's fight against childhood obesity and the Ohio Lottery Commission's spending.

In all, the Republican governor vetoed seven items from the $112 billion state budget that is packed with policy changes and is $2 billion lighter because of cuts to schools and local governments.

Read More: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/06/gov_john_kasich_signs_two-year.html

PENNSYLVANIA: Corbett signs budget

Tracie Mauriello and Laura Olson for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- With 13 minutes to spare, Gov. Tom Corbett signed a $27.15 billion state budget package into law late Thursday night, narrowly finishing his first spending plan by the June 30 deadline.

While the governor and the Republicans in control of both legislative chambers campaigned on reversing the last administration's pattern of budget fights dragging into the summer, it took lawmakers until the final moments to complete all of the measures that Mr. Corbett required of them.

With the spending, revenue and other budget bills headed to his desk, the governor told lawmakers that they would not be signed into law until he received a measure aimed at constraining the ability of school districts to increase property taxes.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11182/1157489-505.stm#ixzz1Qr8tgwxa


WISCONSIN:WEAC sues over law giving Walker power over DPI rules

Jason Stein for the Journal Sentinel

Madison - Members of state teachers unions sued Thursday to block part of a law giving Gov. Scott Walker veto powers over rules written by other state agencies and elected officials.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal skirmishes between the GOP governor and public employee unions.

In the case, parents of students and members of the Wisconsin Education Association Council and Madison Teachers Inc. challenge the law for giving Walker the power to veto administrative rules written by any state agency. That law wrongly gives Walker that power over the state Department of Public Instruction headed by state schools superintendent Tony Evers, the action charges.

Read more:http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/124795644.html

MONTANA: Medical pot ruling draw mixed reactions

Charles Johnson and Mike Dennison for the Billings Gazette

HELENA — Reactions were mixed Thursday to a district judge’s ruling temporarily blocking parts of more stringent 2011 medical marijuana law from taking effect Friday.

Those in the medical marijuana business were pleased that District Judge James Reynolds of Helena issued a temporary injunction blocking parts of the new law.

However, they warned that the decision leaves them in no-win situation during the transition. Caregivers go out of existence at midnight Thursday and become providers under the new law.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_297ba5d2-3440-54eb-ae02-7507bdcf0a22.html#ixzz1Qr9cSrZs


WASHINGTON: Group tries again to shield names in gay rights fight

Chris Grygiel for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A conservative group trying to shield the names of more than 100,000 people who signed petitions trying to block a new law expanding gay rights in Washington state is again trying to keep the information from becoming public.

Protect Marriage Washington, which lost year lost its argument on broad First Amendment claims before the United States Supreme Court, on this week asked a federal court to prevent Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed from publishing the names and addresses of the 138,000 people who signed petitions in 2009 to put Referendum 71 on the ballot.

That measure would’ve overturned the “everything but marriage” same-sex domestic partner law, but Washington voters upheld the new statute. Gay rights groups have said they’ll post the petition signers’ names online, and some fear harassment or threats if their names are revealed.

Read more:http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/06/30/group-tries-again-to-shield-names-in-gay-rights-fight/


OREGON: Oregon lawmakers close session, prepare for next year

Harry Esteve for the Oregonian

SALEM -- The Oregon Legislature wrapped up business Thursday, putting final touches on a no-frills budget and heaping praise on each other for what they called the most congenial, businesslike session in many years.

It was a rare daylight adjournment on an uncharacteristically subdued day, accented by lawmakers who strolled the Capitol in jeans, sneakers and aloha shirts, offering hugs and verbal bouquets at every chance. The last day lacked the usual drama of frantic deal-cutting and voting in the wee hours.

"We have been blessedly boring all session," summed up Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem.

Read more:http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/06/oregon_lawmakers_close_session.html


MAINE: Gay marriage backers to try again

Rebekah Metzler for the Portland Press-Herald

LEWISTON - Less than two years after their loss in a statewide vote, supporters of gay marriage said Thursday that they are ready to try again.

Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, told about 150 people who gathered in front of Lewiston City Hall that gay-marriage supporters "lost at the ballot, but we were not defeated."

"We intend to finish the job that we began in 2009 and bring marriage equality to Maine," she said at a news conference announcing that paperwork will be filed with the Secretary of State's Office to begin a petition drive to put gay marriage back on the ballot.

Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/news/gay-marriage-backers-to-try-again_2011-07-01.html

MINNESOTA: Minnesota campaign board rejects NOM attempt to hide donors supporting marriage ban

Andy Birkey for the Minnesota Independent

The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board ruled today that corporate donations to groups advocating for or against a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage must be disclosed. The Minnesota Family Council (MFC) and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) argued that supporters of marriage equality would commit violence against their donors if they were made public. On Thursday, the board disagreed.

The campaign finance board met in mid-June to vote on how to implement new independent expenditure rules and how they would apply to the 2012 ballot initiative campaign to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. NOM and MFC argued that no disclosures should have to be made for fear of reprisal from supporters of marriage equality.

“To require groups, non-profits like the Minnesota Family Council, to disclose their donors and make their donors names public would have a significant chilling effect on free speech. Even in Minnesota already it’s gotten heated in some respects,” Prichard told the board. “The concern is harassment, property damage, a chilling effect. If I know I have to disclose my name, I’m not going to get involved with the Minnesota Family Council.”

Read More: http://www.americanindependent.com/191339/minnesota-campaign-board-rejects-nom-attempt-to-hide-donors-supporting-marriage-ban

FLORIDA: Rick Scott’s plan to privatize Florida state parks getting national attention

Virginia Chamlee for the Florida Independent

The Rick Scott administration’s proposal to privatize portions of state parks is running up against increasing opposition. Now the issue is gaining national attention.

On a recent segment on his progressive talk show, The Big Picture, Thom Hartmann discussed a plan to turn portions of some of Florida’s most renowned state parks over to private corporations — for use as high-impact camping and RV sites.

Read More: http://www.americanindependent.com/191333/rick-scotts-plan-to-privatize-florida-state-parks-getting-national-attention

PENNSYLVANIA: Supporters of school voucher legislation in Pa. show their disappointment

Mikhail Zinshteyn for the American Independent

After an 11th hour deal to patch together competing versions of a school voucher program failed to materialize Wednesday in the Pennsylvania Legislature, supporters of the bills expressed their disappointment.

Orthodox Union, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement:

“It’s a sad day for children and families across the Commonwealth. Those seeking greater educational opportunity and those families struggling to shoulder the financial burden of education are left waiting. While fully funding EITC at its current maximum is a positive sign after years of cuts, the compromise being negotiated would have helped thousands more. We hope for the sake of Pennsylvania’s children, the Legislature can revisit this as soon as possible and agree to help even more families in need.”

Read More: http://www.americanindependent.com/191283/supporters-of-school-voucher-legislation-in-pa-show-their-disappointment

Video: "School Choice: Taxpayer-Funded Creationism, Bigotry, and Bias"

The video below is a short preview of the 34-minute video "School Choice: Taxpayer-Funded Creationism, Bigotry, and Bias." Private schools receiving funding through "school choice" programs are using A Beka Book, Bob Jones University Press, and other Protestant fundamentalist curricula. The textbooks in these series teach that dinosaurs lived on earth with humans; deny global warming; promote hostility toward other religions and other sectors of Christianity (particularly Roman Catholicism); provide a biased and often factually incorrect version of history; and teach extreme laissez-faire economics, claimed to be biblically-based.

The full length video (embedded at end of article) focuses on the state of Pennsylvania and its Education Improvement Tax Credit program or EITC, the oldest and second largest corporate tax credit program in the country. Pennsylvania was the site of Kitzmiller v. Dover, which unfolded in 2005 in the full glare of the press. Meanwhile an end run has been made around this case and other well-publicized battles over curriculum. The EITC program, with little press or controversy, is providing taxpayer funding for private schools that have no accountability to the public whatsoever.

Taxes of all types owed by businesses to the state, are diverted to "scholarships" for private schools. In Florida, the largest of these programs, over 80% of the students subsidized by tax credits are attending religious schools, many of them using fundamentalist curricula.

-Rachel Tabachnick

Preview of "School Choice: Taxpayer-Funded Creationism, Bigotry, and Bias" from Rachel Tabachnick on Vimeo.

URGENT: Senate to vote today on $1B voucher giveaway

Take Action to Stop SB1- another attack on public education and local property taxes

The Pennsylvania senate is about to vote on a bill that will raise your property taxes and lower the quality of public education. I’s called SB1, and it will cost Pennsylvania taxpayers between $500 million and $4.5 billion.

The Republican leadership is trying to ram this through today. Please take action NOW before they vote on this outrageous legislation.

According to No Voucher Tax.org:

• SB 1 will raise your property taxes. The public schools aren’t going away, and if the state takes billions away from local school boards, your local property taxes will go up.

• SB 1 creates a new Harrisburg bureaucracy. The bill creates a brand-new agency in Harrisburg, with staff, offices and equipment.

• SB 1 is unconstitutional. Article III, Section 15 of the PA Constitution states: “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated or used for the support of any sectarian school.”

• SB 1 is a huge unfunded liability for taxpayers. Cost estimates for SB 1 are based on just 10% of low-income families. Dr. Woodrow Sites of the PA Association of Rural and Small Schools testified that the real price tag could be more than $4.5 billion a year.

• SB 1 has no accountability. SB 1 would send taxpayer dollars to private school operators with no requirement that they do a good job teaching kids. Isn’t that what’s wrong with education already? Even worse, there are numerous reports of financial fraud and other scandals in private school operations.

Take action now! Click here to tell your State Senator to vote NO on SB 1.

Lancaster Sunday News on Vouchers: Inequality is the Point

All I can say is ,Wow!" Someone in the mainstream media gets it.

-MM

Inequality is the point

By Gil Smart, Associate Editor, Lancaster Sunday News

Last week's bit on school vouchers generated more response than I've seen in a while, and most of it -- maybe surprisingly -- was supportive.

There is, I think, a large number of people out there who have experience with our educational system and know it needs to be reformed, but who also realize that the "reforms" being offered by Republicans in Harrisburg (and elsewhere across the country) are less concerned with creating equitable, effective schools for all than they are in creating top-notch schools for some.

Wrote one former teacher: "The major difference between public and private schools is that the public schools must take everyone. But what does that matter to the parents who have the 'wherewithal' to have their kids attend private schools?

"Schools are a reflection of society. Have we become so self-centered that we really don't care about other people who may not have it as good as we do?"

Absolutely.

This is key to understanding not just education "reform" in Pennsylvania, but the broader national zeitgeist.

You know how Hillary Clinton wrote that book, "It Takes a Village"? Conservatives are sick of being on the hook for the whole damned village. Conservatives say, look -- I've got my own family, myself, to take care of, and I bust my hump to do so. I worry about mine -- you worry about yours.

This is the bedrock sentiment of modern conservatism, and a big reason conservatives support vouchers. Hey, I care enough about my kid to pull him out of the public schools and put him in an environment I deem preferable -- why shouldn't I have the right to do that, and take my tax dollars with me? That's the thinking.

That's not why the proposal's being pushed, of course. Private and parochial schools stand to benefit fantastically from a new money spigot. And some public schools in Pennsylvania are failing. So under the guise of "fixing" education, Republicans can stick it to the teachers' unions and give a big handout to favored constituencies by embracing "competition." Because competition makes everything better! Or some things.

For competition involves winners and losers, right? So what of the kids in the "loser" schools?

The answer: What of them?

Voucher proponents have decided -- even if they haven't articulated it per se -- that "fixing" the system requires letting the "losers" lose. They dislike public education specifically because of its egalitarianism; it elevates the bottom, in this view, by holding back the top and constraining achievement.

But ideology aside, there are two key, intertwined questions as to the voucher proposal: Will it work, and how will it work?

We can't know the answer to the first question, obviously. But consider that if private and religious schools have an advantage, it's because they "compete" on an unlevel playing field.

Private schools are not obliged to accept all comers, bus students all over creation or show progress on the bevy of standardized tests that bedevil public districts.

Well. When you can say "sorry" to special-needs kids, for example, the cost of educating students drops dramatically. Do you think schools that don't incur those costs have a distinct, unfair advantage?

Of course they do. So if private schools "do a better job" (but how would we know this unless they're taking the same standardized tests?), this is a huge reason why.

If private schools are to get tax dollars, they must play by the same rules. For if we exempt private schools while still requiring public schools to operate under the mandates even as we defund the system, we explicitly create a two-tiered system of education. And the voucher plan, then, is inherently inequitable; the playing field is unlevel by design.

And what you have to understand is, that's the whole point.

Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. Email him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.

Great anti-voucher op-ed in today's Patriot-News

Pennsylvania's school voucher legislation isn't about low-income students

Published: Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 5:00 AM

Harrisburg Patriot-News Op-Ed

By Sharon Kletzien and Larry Feinberg

Proponents of tuition vouchers, including legislative leaders and Gov. Tom Corbett, often promote the idea as one needed to help children from low-income families "escape" from struggling schools to attend private or religious schools.

News media outlets, including The Patriot-News, have unwittingly or passively played right along with that story line. But facts are stubborn things. And the facts show a completely different picture.

http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/06/amendments_to_voucher_legislat.html

School Voucher and Tax Credit Dollars Used to Teach Creationism and Disrespect for Other Religions and Cultures

This intolerance and intentionally taught ignorance is what Tm Corbett has in mind for PA's schhols.

See article on AlterNet here.

Corbett to Speak at Right wing Group Dedicated to Destroying Public Education

Pennsylvania’s public schools are under attack by a group of multi-millionaires. Their plan? Privatize education, so that every family has to send their child to private schools.¹

This radical movement believes the first step toward their goal is a scheme called “School Vouchers.” Gov. Tom Corbett is one of the backers of this program. In fact he believes in it so strongly that one of the most radical groups supporting privatizing education is having Corbett as their keynote speaker on Monday.² He’s being joined at the event by Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, he of the effort to destroy collective bargaining rights.

Tom Corbett is betraying the public interest by joining in this effort to destroy public schools.

That’s why Keystone Progress and PennAction are going to Washington on Monday to tell him that he needs to stay in Pennsylvania to protect public education instead of allying himself with people who have vowed to destroy our schools.

Please join us in Washington on Monday. We’re holding a rally outside the Washington Marriott from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM. We have free transportation leaving this Monday, May 9 at 8:00 AM from Harrisburg, 7:00 AM from Bucks County and 8:00 from Philadelphia. We’ll be home by 5 or 6 that evening. Send us an email at info@keystoneprogress.org to reserve your spot.

Don’t need a ride to DC? Let us know you’re coming by registering on Facebook here.

Can’t make it to Washington? You can stop the plan to privatize public schools by sending emails to the key State Senators.

AND…

Making a contribution to Keystone Progress to help us continue the fight to protect public education and to work for working family values.

Thank you for your support.

Together we will win,

Michael Morrill
Keystone Progress

¹Rachel Tabachnick, Talk to Action, http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/20/232844/831/
²American Federation for Children, http://www.federationforchildren.org/articles/296

DeVos talks about stealth school voucher strategy

School Voucher leader talks about their stealth strategy back in 2002 before the Heritage Foundation. The Devos family is part of the cabal that funds the astro-turf group Students first and others. Text of excerpt, and link to full speech, follow below. H/T to Bruce Wilson.

“Where’s the battle going to be fought, for the future? In my view it will be, and at this point it needs to be, fought at the state level--utilizing vehicles such as GLEP and others nationally but ideally these organizations must be constructed locally. They need to be constructed with individuals such as the staff we had in Michigan, who were intelligent and connected with the local grassroots politics of what was going on, that had the relationships, the insights, and the political sensitivity to know what was happening.

And so while those of us on the national level can give support, we need to encourage the development of these organizations on a state-by-state basis, in order to be able to offer a political consequence, for opposition, and political reward, for support of, education reform issues.

That has got to be the battle. It will not be as visible. And, in fact, to the extent that we on the right, those of us on the conservative side of the aisle, appropriate education choice as our idea, we need to be a little bit cautious about doing that, because we have here an issue that cuts in a very interesting way across our community and can cut, properly communicated, properly constructed, can cut across a lot of historic boundaries, be they partisan, ethnic, or otherwise.

And so we’ve got a wonderful issue that can work for Americans. But to the extent that it is appropriated or viewed as only a conservative idea it will risk not getting a clear and a fair hearing in the court of public opinion. So we do need to be cautious about that.

We need to be cautious about talking too much about these activities. Many of the activities and the political work that needs to go on will go on at the grass roots. It will go on quietly and it will go on in the form that often politics is done - one person at a time, speaking to another person in privacy. And so these issues will not be, maybe, as visible or as noteworthy but they will set a framework, within states, for the possibility of action on education reform issues. “

--Richard DeVos, speech at the Heritage Foundation, December 3, 2002

Link to full speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt9FmMrvJ3A

Pro-Voucher Astroturfing: Campaigns Across Nation Coordinated by DeVos, Funded by a Few Mega-Donors

Part Two - Indiana In addition to the millions spent in Pennsylvania, over 4.6 million dollars was raised by the Indiana affiliate of the Betsy DeVos-led pro-voucher organizations, all from 13 mega-donors, prior to the 2010 election. The Indiana PAC money also funded campaigns in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and other states. The Indiana state senate passed a sweeping school voucher bill on Thursday, April 21, 2010, following an intensive crusade by the Betsy DeVos-led American Federation For Children and affiliated organizations. The blitz campaigns in Indiana and other states are similar to the one in Pennsylvania (described in detail in the previous report). A small core group of donors ideologically opposed to public education contribute millions of dollars to the pro-voucher movements in states across the nation. The massive funding and distribution of the funds around the nation is a classic case of astroturfing, creating the illusion that there is a spontaneous wave of grass roots and bipartisan support for vouchers.

Borrowing the definition from Sourcewatch, astroturf lobbying "refers to apparently grassroots-based citizen groups or coalitions that are primarily conceived, created and/or funded by corporations, industry trade associations, political interests or public relations firms."

The pro-voucher astroturf model is being repeated throughout the country:

-- DeVos-led organizations fund a local entity and political action committee (PAC) in the state.

--Funding comes from a few mega-donors who make contributions in one location. These funds are then moved to non-profits and PACs in other states, obscuring the identity of the small group of original donors. (This report focuses on the affiliated PAC in Indiana which had over $4.6 million in receipts from 13 donors prior to the 2010 election, and sent most of the funds to six other states.) The pro-voucher 501(C)(3) nonprofits across the nation, which do not directly fund candidates, are also largely funded by the DeVos-led entities.

--Contributions are made primarily to candidates in state and local campaigns, and for advertising, direct mail, and canvassing, helping to promote the illusion of a surge of grass roots support. Funding is spent to commission a poll prior to the legislative vote which shows majority support in the state for school vouchers.

--Funding and advertising support is provided to small group of Democrats who become the face of the movement, promoting the illusion that there is significant bipartisan support.

--Teachers who have spent years in the classroom, teachers' unions, and opponents of vouchers, are demonized as not caring about urban children and accused of obstructing the altruistic efforts of pro-voucher supporters. The radical privatization agenda of DeVos and wealthy backers is not revealed.

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/24/22559/1547/Front_Page/Pro_Voucher_Astroturfing_Campaigns_Across_Nation_Coordinated_by_DeVos_Funded_by_a_Few_Mega_Donors_

Rachel Tabachnick is an independent researcher. She is a member of Keystone Progress.