Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/279010
AEA Advocate x Summer 2014 31 IN DEPTH LOOK Corporate-Led Online Learning In 2011 Tennessee signed HB 1030 into law, a bill that includes copy-cat language from ALEC's Virtual Public Schools Act. The model bill allows private operators to create online academies that would be funded as if they were brick-and-mortar schools. Guess which ALEC corporate funder won the no-bid contract to develop a state school district's Virtual Academy? K12 Inc., pictured here at the NY Stock Exchange, which has paid its CEO nearly $16 million in the past three years; most of its revenue comes from taxpayers. In 2013, the ALEC Task Force voted on at least five new model bills that make the curriculum vulnerable to digital content, content that could potentially be developed by for-profit corporate Task Force members. K12 Inc., runs the Virtual Arizona Academy, here in our state. The head of Governor Brewer's Arizona Ready Education Council is ex-CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett, who runs the BASIS Charter Schools and is also on the national board for K12 Inc. Legislators have attempted to pass ALEC's Virtual Public Schools Act in Arizona without success. ALEC Wines and Dines Arizona Lawmakers with Lavish Recruitment Dinner According to ProgressNow Arizona, at least 17 Arizona state legislators attended a lavish recruitment dinner on February 25, 2014, for ALEC. The senators and representatives, including Senate President Andy Biggs, enjoyed dinner and drinks alongside several prominent lobbyists in a private back room at Donovan's, one of the Valley's finest steak and chop houses. They came at the behest of Rep. Debbie Lesko, ALEC's Arizona Chairwoman, whose leaked invitation billed the event as "an Arizona ALEC Membership Reception/Dinner" while including her House office number for RSVPs. It is unclear how many Arizona legislators Lesko invited to Tuesday's shin-dig, but no Democrats were seen arriving. Arizona has consistently had one of the highest participation rates in ALEC in the nation, with the majority of the Republican caucus counting themselves as members and attending luxurious out-of-town policy retreats each year. Those expense-paid retreats – where bills are written and shaped without public input – have had profound results for ALEC's corporate backers. Arizona Legislators have strongly backed several ALEC priorities, including the anti-immigrant Senate Bill 1070, efforts to undermine public schools through expansion of private-school vouchers and charter schools, Continued on page 34 "The public has a right to know where their law- makers get their ideas and how much those special interests paid for the access." — Robbie Sherwood, Executive Director of ProgressNow Arizona Summer.14advo.indd 31 3/14/14 2:58 PM