Defend public schools, our children, our democracy

Jan. 26, 2013

This op-ed was submitted by 11 leaders of community and education organizations in Milwaukee.

We need communitywide discussion and action to protect the future of the Milwaukee Public Schools.

We welcome input from all who believe in and support quality public education for all children.

We represent thousands of parents, community members and educators who have been working – and will continue to work – to ensure that all children receive a first-class education comparable to anywhere else in the state.

A Jan. 20 Crossroads op-ed by the executive board of Milwaukee Succeeds highlights the need to secure a sound financial future for MPS and to develop guiding principles for educating all the children in this city.

The initiative, however, was noticeably and disturbingly top-down, developed behind closed doors. Does Milwaukee need yet another policy mandate with vague and arbitrary “guiding principles” that ignore Milwaukee’s hypersegregation, poverty and joblessness? That ignore the fundamental and inherent differences between public, voucher and charter schools?

Any discussion of the future of public education in this city requires input from all key stakeholders, in particular people who live in Milwaukee and people who are part of the MPS community, from staff to parents to students.

We believe that any set of guiding principles also must include the following:

All schools in Milwaukee that receive public funds must adhere to Wisconsin’s open meetings/open records laws to ensure full transparency and accountability. The public must have access to information such as the percentage of students in poverty, English language learners, special education students, suspensions, expulsions, teacher certification, content of curricula and so forth.

All schools in Milwaukee that receive public funds must respect the constitutional rights of students and staff (for example, rights of due process and freedom of speech). They also must adhere to state anti-discrimination laws in areas such as sexual orientation or pregnancy.

All schools in Milwaukee that receive public funds must respect the language needs of students and must adhere to federal and state protections for English language learners. In particular, we must maintain and develop strong bilingual programs for the city’s growing Latino community.

All schools in Milwaukee that receive public funds should serve all children, including children with disabilities. This also means they should accommodate the needs of all children with disabilities and not exclude, expel or counsel such children out of the school.

All children in Milwaukee deserve a rich curriculum, including a comprehensive academic program and art, music, physical education and access to school libraries.

We should establish a moratorium on new charter schools that are part of national franchises. Our precious educational dollars should be kept in the community, not sent out of state.

We must develop a regional discussion on hypersegregation in Milwaukee and how such hypersegregation negatively affects not only education but jobs, transportation, housing and health care.

For the past two decades, education reform in Milwaukee has been dominated by consumer-based, privatization initiatives. They have not worked. The Milwaukee Succeeds op-ed repackages school privatization as a call for a “unified education agenda.” But, at its heart, school privatization is a disservice to our children and our democracy.

We must improve our public schools. But we also must defend the constitutional right to a free, public education for all children. A truly public education means more than funneling tax dollars to private voucher schools and semiprivate charter schools that operate outside of expected norms of public oversight and accountability – and that undermine the very survival of MPS.

MPS is the only educational institution in this city that has the capacity, commitment and legal obligation to serve all of Milwaukee’s children.

We look forward to conversations that include all the stakeholders in this community, that protect the rights of all and that recognize the inherent bond between strong public schools and a strong democracy.

This was submitted by Christopher Ahmuty, ACLU of Wisconsin executive director; Jasmine Alinder, board president of Parents for Public Schools of Milwaukee; Tony Baez, Centro Hispano Milwaukee executive director; the Rev. Willie Brisco, Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope president; James Hall, NAACP Milwaukee Branch president; Marva Herndon, chair of Women Committed to an Informed Community; Robert Kraig, Citizen Action of Wisconsin executive director; Larry Miller, Milwaukee School Board vice president; Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Voces de la Frontera executive director; Bob Peterson, Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association president; and Milwaukee School Board member Annie Woodward.

 

Oshkosh Newspaper Editorial Opposes Voucher Expansion

Democracy in the way of vouchers

Jan 19, 2013   TheNorthWestern.Com Editorial (Oshkosh News)

Leave it to Sen. Mike Ellis to hit the nail on the head: The expansion of school vouchers is a non-starter in northeast Wisconsin. In our view, such is the case across Wisconsin. The Senate president, in typically blunt language, called last week for local referendum votes on any expansion of the state’s school voucher program outside of Milwaukee and Racine.

One can only hope his act of outspoken courage helps fuse the spine of fellow senators and pushes this partisan plum off the Republican agenda during biennium budget discussions. The school choice movement is little more than an employment agency for former Republican lawmakers who continue to push for taxpayers to foot the bill for private education. There is no evidence the voucher experiment in Milwaukee has produced results better than public schools.

Nor are voucher advocates prepared to suggest private schools operate under the same myriad of federal and state regulations Wisconsin’s public schools are required by law to follow. Private and religious school choice advocates would be wise to stop courting public dollars for they may ultimately find they get the dollars — and long strings attached. Parochial schools have long and proud traditions that will continue to flourish without the deep pockets and pages of requirements of public dollars.

Last session, school choice lobbyists used their influence with Rep. Robin Vos, who chaired the Joint Finance Committee, to insert language into the budget expanding the program to Racine, Green Bay and potential districts like Oshkosh. Ellis and other lawmakers pushed back hard to limit the expansion to Racine. No one bothered to tell Green Bay school officials, and it was never clear who was calling for vouchers in the city beyond the lobbyists.

With Vos now Assembly Speaker, expect the issue to be back on the agenda. But Ellis’ call certainly casts a light on an issue that is hardly on the top of anyone’s list of priorities. The state took positive steps last year toward making public schools more accountable through the introduction of tougher standards and statewide report cards. Lawmakers ought to put their energies into developing more accountable, flexible and adequately funded public schools. They should develop a bi-partisan plan to tackle the crisis in Milwaukee.

More importantly, they need to get back to their well-rehearsed call for a focus on the state’s economy. The only “jobs” connection evident is the ones for former Republican lawmakers. Former Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, who formed a lobbying firm after his loss in the GOP primary for U.S. senator last summer, registered as a lobbyist for School Choice Wisconsin earlier this month. He joins former Assembly Speakers John Gard and Scott Jensen in working on behalf of the industry. That gives vouchers a higher profile in the halls of power than in households across Wisconsin.

The Final Thought: School voucher expansion a non-issue for Wisconsin.

How to Reform Milwaukee’s Schools by Diane Ravitch

New post on Diane Ravitch’s blog

How to Reform Milwaukee’s Schools by dianerav

Alan Borsuk is a knowledgeable journalist who has covered education in Milwaukee for many years. He is now professing at Marquette, but still keeps a close watch on what is happening to education in Milwaukee.

In this article, Borsuk says that a new vision is needed to get beyond the stale and failed answers of the past. He is right.

Milwaukee has had vouchers since 1990. longer than any school district in the nation. The students in the voucher schools perform no better than those in the public schools.

Milwaukee has had charter schools for about 20 years. The students in the charter schools do no better than those in the public schools.

As the other sectors have grown, the Milwaukee public schools have experienced sharply declining enrollment. At the same time, the number of students with disabilities is far greater in the public schools than in either the voucher or charter schools. The latter are unable or unwilling to take the children who are most challenging and most expensive to educate. Thus, Milwaukee public schools are “competing” with two sectors who skim off the ablest students and reject the ones they don’t want. Most people would say this is not a level playing field.

Governor Scott Walker’s answer to the Milwaukee problem is to call for more vouchers and charters, and for virtual charters. But if the students in those schools are not outperforming the ones in the public schools after twenty years, why should those sectors grow? And we know from multiple studies that students in virtual schools do worse than those in brick-and-mortar schools.

More of the same is no answer. Doubling down on failure is a bad bet.

Yes, Milwaukee needs a bold vision.

It needs a reset.

It needs one public education sector, not three competing sectors. The time for dual- and triple-systems should have ended in 1954, with the Brown decision.

Milwaukee needs one public school system that receives public dollars, public support, community engagement, and parental involvement.

Vouchers and charters had their chance. They failed.

Now it is time to build a great public school system that meets the needs of the children of Milwaukee.

the children need universal pre-kindergarten so that they arrive in school ready to learn. The children with high needs require small classes and extra attention. The public schools should provide a superb program in the arts for all children in every grade. They should have a rich curriculum–history, literature, foreign languages, the sciences, mathematics, and civics–for all children. Every student should have daily physical education. The schools should have the nurses, guidance counselors, social workers and librarians they need. Children should have after-school programs where they can learn new skills, strengthen their bodies, and get extra tutoring.

It is impossible to achieve these goals in a city with three competing school systems. It is entirely possible to achieve when there is one school system that becomes the focus of the energies of parents, civic leaders, and the business community.

Many children, one Milwaukee.

Special Education: Comparison of Wisconsin Public Schools to Voucher Schools

Following is an array of information concerning special education services and what is required by public, charter and private voucher schools in Wisconsin. This information is provided by Wisconsin FACETS, Disability Rights Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities.

For example, private voucher schools are not required to fulfill a student’s IEP. (Yet under  proposed legislation, AB 110, they will get full funding for special education services.)

Go to the following links. A page will appear with the link listed. Double click that link to get to the page:

School Choice – Charts 1

School Choice – FAQs 2

Walker Announces Voucher Expansion at California Speech

Scott Walker is ready to take another step on his mission to privatize public education in the state of Wisconsin. He announced his plans to expand the voucher program for private schools while limiting funding for public schools, including technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System.

Walker recently exposed his plans while speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Following is a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article written by Daniel Bice. The Walker speech can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BSBckazR40&t=54m25s

Walker promises major tax reforms, school funding changesWisconsin governor speaks at Reagan library Nov. 17, 2012 MJS Daniel Bice Speaking before a packed house at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in California, Gov. Scott Walker unveiled major components of his upcoming legislative agenda, including “massive tax reform” consisting of cuts in state income and property taxes. “We think if we want to continue the economic success we’ve had over the last year and a half, again one of the best ways to do this is to put money back in the hands of entrepreneurs, more money back in the hands of small business owners, more money back in the hands of our consumers,” Walker said Friday during his hourlong speech, a video of which was posted on YouTube. “So we’re going to continue to lower our property taxes, and we’re going to put in place an aggressive income tax reduction and reform in the state of Wisconsin because we believe we can continue to be one of the leaders in the country, not just in reform but ultimately in results.” Walker also said he wants to require the state’s public schools, including the technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System, to meet performance-based targets to receive increased state funding – similar to programs in Florida and Pennsylvania. The first-term Republican governor said he will push to expand the state’s voucher program for private schools and further streamline the state’s rules and regulations. The next legislative session convenes in January. A Walker aide declined Saturday to provide further details on the governor’s agenda, such as whether the income tax cuts would be targeted or across the board. “Governor Walker’s budget will be introduced early next year,” said spokesman Cullen Werwie. State Rep. Robin Vos, the next Assembly speaker, said the proposals sound very much like the ideas Vos has been discussing with top Walker officials for the past six months – though he has yet to talk to Walker personally about his legislative proposals. “The agenda he laid out (in the California speech) is one Republicans in the state can coalesce around and, hopefully, we can also work to bring Democrats who are open-minded about reforming our tax code and improving our state’s economy to support the plans as well,” said Vos, a Rochester Republican. But state Sen. Chris Larson, who will lead the Senate Democrats, said he can’t believe state residents had to find out about the governor’s agenda by tracking down what he said in an out-of-state speech to “another right-wing group.” Larson said he has been trying unsuccessfully to reach out to Walker and Republican leaders about the upcoming session. “It’s unfortunate he’s going to try to continue to go down this war path of ideology instead of actually trying to address the real problems that we’ve got,” said the Milwaukee Democrat. “It looks like he’s putting his donors above his voters.” Walker’s high-profile appearance at the Reagan Simi Valley complex came on the heels of his numerous campaign stops around the country on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other GOP candidates. The Wauwatosa Republican said he was invited to speak at the library shortly after the June recall election by former first lady Nancy Reagan, whom he met on Friday. The library is a traditional forum for Republicans interested in running for president. Walker has downplayed his interest in a 2016 presidential bid. But in an interview with the Ventura County Star at the Reagan library, Walker was critical of Romney and his unsuccessful presidential campaign. “Our future nominee needs to do a better job in articulating the views that we commonly hold as Republicans and to talk more optimistically about freedom and about prosperity, and the fact that we want every American to be able to live his or her piece of the American dream,” Walker said. He continued, “I don’t think (Romney) did an effective job, nor did his campaign of communicating that with the majority (of) voters in my state and others.” The speech attracted a number of California conservatives, including former Gov. Pete Wilson. Walker was accompanied by Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply and a major GOP fundraiser. The Beloit billionaire paid nothing in state income taxes for 2010, the Journal Sentinel has reported. Veteran political forecaster Larry Sabato told No Quarter on Saturday that Walker is looking and sounding more like a presidential contender. “It’s possible Walker is just staying high-profile prior to his 2014 re-election race, but I think he sees a wide open field for ’16 and says, ‘Why not me?’ ” Sabato said. After his prepared remarks, a former Wisconsin resident in the crowd quizzed Walker about his agenda for the upcoming legislative session during a question-and-answer session. In the election earlier this month, Republicans took control of the state Senate and increased their majority in the Assembly. Walker did not say who would get tax cuts under his reform plan. Vos said he hopes the state trims the income tax bill for all taxpayers but gives the greatest relief to the middle class. Along with the tax cuts, Walker said he wants to require the state’s public schools – ranging from elementary and secondary schools to technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System – to meet performance-based targets to receive increased state funding. Following the lead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Walker said his administration began publishing report cards for K-12 public schools. He said it is now time to hold colleges and universities accountable. “I’ll borrow a line from Jeb – Jeb says it well – ‘We shouldn’t be paying for butts in seats; we should be paying for outcomes,’ ” Walker said. “In higher education, that means not only degrees but our young people getting degrees in the jobs that are actually open and needed today, not just the jobs the universities want to give us.” He didn’t provide additional specifics on his education reform plan, but his proposal sounds similar to the plan under consideration in Pennsylvania. A commission set up by Gov. Tom Corbett is recommending performance score cards that would grade state colleges and universities on such items as controlling tuition costs, increasing enrollment of low-income students and tailoring programs to meet the needs of the workforce. The score cards would then be used to determine funding for postsecondary institutions. Florida is also instituting a similar system under which $118 million in state funding is divided among state colleges and universities based on how well they perform in 40 different statistical categories. UW System President Kevin Reilly did not return calls on Saturday. In addition, Walker told the enthusiastic California crowd that he hopes to make Wisconsin’s voucher program for private schools available to more students. “I want to help my traditional public schools, but I want to help my charter, my choice, my virtual schools,” Walker said. He continued, “Every child – no matter what ZIP code they come from, no matter what their parents’ background – every child in my state and in this country should have the opportunity to have access to world-class education.” Larson, the Democratic leader, said he was most troubled by Walker’s plan to expand school choice. Larson said he believes the state should put in place better measures to ensure transparency and accountability for choice schools before opening the program to more students. Finally, Walker said he wants to eliminate unnecessary state regulations but provided no specifics. Vos noted that the Assembly Republican caucus has not yet gotten together to develop its full legislative agenda. “He’s a bit early in the process,” Vos said of Walker. “But it’s perfectly fine for the governor to begin the discussion because he’s echoing themes that we’ve been saying the last six months on the campaign trail.” Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice.

Letter to Diane Ravitch on Wisconsin’s Voucher Hustle

Diane Ravitch on Starting a Voucher School in Wisconsin

A reader writes from Wisconsin:

After our Act 10 passed in Wisconsin, a few of my colleagues and I looked into what it would take to take our game to the private sector and start a voucher school in our town. What we learned was that it would be perfectly legal for us to rent an abandoned storefront in our town and lure students in with the promise of free technology that they could keep, even after they left the school. We could collect our voucher money from the state after the third Friday in September, when the state establishes your enrollment. To keep costs low and profits high, we could use Khan Academy as our curriculum and hire uncertified aides to monitor the students (we had a few recent HS graduates in mind who we thought would make good bouncers). The hastily sketched out business plan had us earning far more than we would as public school teachers, based on our best estimates.

But the real beauty of the plan kicked in after the third Friday in September. Immediately after that, we would start “counseling” kids out and sending them back to the public school. We figure that by Thanksgiving or at the latest Christmas, we would have our enrollment down to zero, then we could fire the bouncers, break the lease, take the voucher money and run. All totally legitimate, as far as we could tell by reading the law.

 

 

 Louisiana’s bold bid to privatize schools

Fri, Jun 1 2012, Reuters

By Stephanie Simon

June 1 (Reuters) – Louisiana is embarking on the nation’s boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.

Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.

The following year, students of any income will be eligible for mini-vouchers that they can use to pay a range of private-sector vendors for classes and apprenticeships not offered in traditional public schools. The money can go to industry trade groups, businesses, online schools and tutors, among others.

Every time a student receives a voucher of either type, his local public school will lose a chunk of state funding.

“We are changing the way we deliver education,” said Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who muscled the plan through the legislature this spring over fierce objections from Democrats and teachers unions. “We are letting parents decide what’s best for their children, not government.”

BIBLE-BASED MATH BOOKS

The concept of opening public schools to competition from the private sector has been widely promoted in recent years by well-funded education reform groups.

Of the plans so far put forward, Louisiana’s plan is by far the broadest. This month, eligible families, including those with incomes nearing $60,000 a year, are submitting applications for vouchers to state-approved private schools.

That list includes some of the most prestigious schools in the state, which offer a rich menu of advanced placement courses, college-style seminars and lush grounds. The top schools, however, have just a handful of slots open. The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, for instance, has said it will accept just four voucher students, all kindergartners. As elsewhere, they will be picked in a lottery.

Far more openings are available at smaller, less prestigious religious schools, including some that are just a few years old and others that have struggled to attract tuition-paying students.

The school willing to accept the most voucher students — 314 — is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.

The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.

At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains “what God made” on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.

“We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children,” Carrier said.

Other schools approved for state-funded vouchers use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.

TEACHERS WEIGH LAWSUIT

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that vouchers can be used for religious education so long as the state is not promoting any one faith but letting parents choose where to enroll their children.

August 14 Primary Election is Major Win for Public Education

by Larry Miller

The August 14 Democratic primary election in Milwaukee was a victory for public education. Who lost? Democrats who support vouchers, the Republican Party and Tea Party activists.

At the center of this election was the seat in the 11th assembly district, a race between Mandela Barnes and Jason Fields. Jason Fields has been a longtime advocate for private school vouchers and other forms of privatization of public education. His work has not gone unnoticed by Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Fields to the Governor’s education committee on reading.

Barnes addressed the issue of vouchers head on with Fields. Barnes did an old-fashioned grassroots, dialogue-at-doorsteps campaign to win landslide support of voters. Fields, on the other hand, relied on outside support in an attempt to hold his assembly seat.

To rally that support, in stepped the American Federation for Children (AFC). The American Federation for Children is an organization with roots in Milwaukee that promotes public school privatization through “voucher programs” and charter schools. It shares an address and leadership with its 501(c)(3) partner, Wisconsin’s Alliance for School Choice (ASC).

The AFC spent over $100,000 in radio ads and glossy brochures sent to Milwaukee voters’ homes in an attempt to sway votes.

AFC is chaired by Betsy DeVos, the billionaire wife of Amway founder Richard DeVos and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. She is a Tea Party advocate and ally of the Koch brothers. In recent years, she has funneled tens of millions of dollars into school privatization efforts and other right-wing initiatives.

AFC is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and is represented by former Rep. Scott Jensen on the ALEC “Education Task Force.” Jensen is the former Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker convicted in 2005 of three felonies for misuse of his office for political purposes, and banned from the state Capitol for five years. Jensen is one of the AFC’s registered lobbyists in Wisconsin.

Jensen has proposed bills to ALEC on behalf of AFC/ASC that were adopted as “model” legislation. For example, in March 2011, Jensen presented to the ALEC Education Task Force the “Education Savings Account Act,” which creates financial incentives for families to take their children out of the public school system and put them in for-profit primary and secondary schools.

This AFC strategy for the August 14 primary election was a total failure. For any Democrats who stroll to the other side, let this be some indication of what can happen in the future.

The results of this election have to be somewhat disheartening to State Sen. Lena Taylor, who endorsed many of those defeated. She is a strong voucher advocate who supported the attempt at mayoral takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools and continues to raise governance issues around Milwaukee public schools, including the possibility of creating a New Orleans-style “recovery district.” Most of public schooling in New Orleans has been turned over to private chartering companies with questionable policies and results.

We need to pay attention to who stayed silent on the interference by the American Federation for Children. Silence in the face of right wing power moves amounts to complicity.

Hopefully this election will slow down any future attempts to privatize public schools.

 

 

August 14 Election: Crucial to Milwaukee’s Future

By Larry Miller

There are crucial elections occurring on August 14. Private school vouchers are a central issue facing the candidates. While the Republican Party stands firmly behind voucher privatization, too many Democrats stand with them.

I hear Democrats say this or that person is good on most issues, just not vouchers. We can no longer say that vouchers and privatization of public education is a secondary or side issue. Just as Republicans have abandoned any real demand for jobs in Milwaukee’s communities of color, so have too many Democrats. We have also seen both sides of the aisle silent on the discriminatory criminal justice and incarceration policies that mainly affect African-American men.

I determined my support on these issues; voucher school privatization, jobs for poor communities in Milwaukee and the fight to end the new Jim Crow policies of incarceration of black men under the guise of the “war on drugs.”

I give my support to Mandela Barnes and Nikiya Harris. They will be new voices in the state legislature not afraid to address these life-and-death issues.

An important determinant for me in these crucial elections has been the involvement of the American Federation for Children (AFC). This Michigan-based right-wing organization is pro-voucher and has the support of the Tea Party and the Koch brothers. The AFC actively opposes the election of Mandela Barnes and the Nikiya Harris, along with Sandy Pasch (another candidate I support.)

Opposition by the AFC is a clear indication of who to vote for on issues of school privatization, jobs for the black community, discriminatory criminal justice issues, healthcare and much more. There has been silence by some Democrats in response to the AFC’s opportunist falsehoods and fabrications.

Please vote August 14. Your vote matters.

In putting forward these endorsements, I in no way represent the MPS board of directors or any of its members, including MPS school Board President Michael Bonds who has maintained neutrality in these Senate and Assembly races.

Right-Wing Alert: “American Federation for Children” Funding Democrats for Education Privatization

The American Federation for Children (AFC), led by Betty DeVos, is spending money on Milwaukee’s present legislative races. The American Federation for Children spent $1.5 million helping Republicans during this year’s recall elections. That includes some $900,000 that it spent to help Scott Walker fend off Tom Barrett’s challenge.

The American Federation for Children was highlighted for its support of Jason Fields in a July 25^th article by Daniel Bice in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel titled “Recent GOP Backers Weigh In For Democrat.” (See http://tinyurl.com/ck3b9o2)

Who is the American Federation for Children?

The American Federation for Children (AFC) is an organization with roots in Milwaukee that promotes public school privatization through “voucher programs.” It shares an address and leadership with its 501(c)(3) partner Alliance for School Choice (ASC).

AFC is chaired by Betsy DeVos, the billionaire wife of Amway founder Richard DeVos and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. In recent years, she has funneled tens of millions of dollars into school privatization efforts and other right-wing initiatives.

AFC is an ALEC member and is represented by former Rep. Jensen on the ALEC Education Task Force. Jensen is the former Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker convicted in 2005 of three felonies for misuse of his office for political purposes, and banned from the state Capitol for five years (the charges were later reduced on appeal). Jensen is one of AFC’s registered lobbyists in Wisconsin.

Jensen has proposed bills to ALEC on behalf of AFC/ASC that were adopted as “model” legislation. For example, in March 2011, Jensen presented to the ALEC Education Task Force the “Education Savings Account Act,” which creates financial incentives for families to take their children out of the public school system and put them in for-profit primary and secondary schools.

AFC was a “Trustee” level sponsor of ALEC’s 2011 Annual Conference – which, according to data from 2010, equated to a $5,000 payment to ALEC.

(Following is an AlterNet blog article that gives some history of Betty DeVos, her family and their right-wing agenda.)

The DeVos Family: Meet the Super-Wealthy Right-Wingers Working With the Religious Right to Kill Public Education

By Rachel Tabachnick, AlterNet
Posted in 2011 and Printed on July 19, 2012

Since the 2010 elections, voucher bills have popped up in legislatures around the nation. From Pennsylvania to Indiana to Florida, state governments across the country have introduced bills that would take money from public schools and use it to send students to private and religious institutions.

Vouchers have always been a staple of the right-wing agenda. Like previous efforts, this most recent push for vouchers is led by a network of conservative think tanks, PACs, Religious Right groups and wealthy conservative donors. But “school choice,” as they euphemistically paint vouchers, is merely a means to an end. Their ultimate goal is the total elimination of our public education system.

The decades-long campaign to end public education is propelled by the super-wealthy, right-wing DeVos family. Betsy Prince DeVos is the sister of Erik Prince, founder of the notorious private military contractor Blackwater USA,  and wife of Dick DeVos, son of the co-founder of Amway, the multi-tiered home products business.

By now, you’ve surely heard of the Koch brothers, whose behind-the-scenes financing of right-wing causes has been widely documented in the past year. The DeVoses have remained largely under the radar, despite the fact that their stealth assault on America’s schools has the potential to do away with public education as we know it.