Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/279010
30 Summer 2014 x AEA Advocate As an educator, how would you feel if someone was depleting funding from your public school and giving it to a private or religious school that gets to pick and choose which students it wants to enroll? It's already happening in several states nationwide, thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC, one of the biggest adversaries of public education. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) claims that its education mission is to "promote excellence in the nation's educational system," yet its "model" legislation advocates for policies that defund public services, distort the curriculum, and undercut our educators. Through ALEC, state legislators vote as equals with corporate lobbyists and special interest groups on "model" legislation without the press or public present. Corporations help bankroll ALEC meetings at resorts, where state legislators are wined and dined at corporate expense. ALEC's Education Task Force includes corporations that profit from privatizing public schools. They promote model bills that divert tax dollars to private schools and undermine academic freedom. Below are model bills that have either been passed in Arizona or introduced: • ALEC supports funding "virtual" schools at the same per pupil rate as public brick-and- mortar schools; the difference in cost results in profits for ALEC's corporate members. • The Education Task Force has voted on over a dozen separate ALEC bills relating to vouchers and tuition tax credits for K-12 education. The bills vary by whose financial interests they serve and by funding mechanism. Some of these bills introduced in states have been word-for-word copies. • ALEC's "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act" calls for curriculum to "provide a range of perspectives in a balanced manner" regardless of the scientific findings surrounding climate change. • ALEC's Academic Bill of Rights and Intellectual Diversity Act would prevent higher education faculty from using their professional judgment and create a chilling effect on what professors and students discuss. • ALEC has also adopted the Indiana Education "Reform" Package. It includes bills that advance online distance learning for K-12, that limit the collective bargaining rights of teachers, and that open schools up to "special management" if they underperform. • ALEC's A-Plus Literacy Act is based on special interest legislation peddled in Florida which grades schools based mainly on standardized test results. In addition, several ALEC bills have also targeted school employees' rights and pensions, by: • Eliminating the collective bargaining rights of organized workers • Changing state laws to strip the power of organized workers and labor unions in negotiating contracts and make it harder for workers to fund their unions • Moving to eliminate Arizona's public retirement security system and require employees to opt into risky defined contribution plans. The ALEC Education Agenda IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK Corporations help bankroll ALEC meetings at resorts, where state legislators are wined and dined at corporate expense. f iT's Time To sTAnd uP To Alec's educATion AgendA Actions You Can Take • Join the campaign at StandUpToALEC.org and reach out to your state legislator. • Ask your Facebook and Twitter followers to join the campaign on Twitter via @StandUpToALEC and at Facebook.com/StandUpToALEC. • Tweet: Use the hashtags #StandUpToALEC & #ALECeducation. • Share the attached images on Facebook and Twitter. Summer.14advo.indd 30 3/14/14 2:58 PM