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“Moving our schools from the public sector to the private sector is a false choice. Instead, as the research concisely demonstrates, parents and students should be able to choose a neighborhood public school with the important characteristics that are already established in the research literature and consistently observed in wealthy high-performing public and private schools. Access to those choices in democratically-controlled neighborhood public schools is the civil rights issue of our time— large-scale privatization of education is not.” Here’s a different look at the attempt to push school “choice” as a solution to the problems our schools face. http://txedrev.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Heilig_Reframing-the-Refrain_TxEdRev.pdf...

The next time you hear we need more charter schools to give choice to poor children, think of this piece:http://www.plunderbund.com/2013/12/10/ecot-founder-living-very-well-off-ohios-school-funding-dollars/...

We disagree with Governor Brownback’s recent statement that perception of ALEC’s influence in Kansas is overblown. Here’s a map showing Kansas has the nation’s 6th highest percentage of legislators with ALEC ties (42%). We believe Kansans know what Kansas needs, and our legislators don’t need to meet with national corporations to form their education policy.http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2013/map-alec-in-your-state?utm_campaign=brookings-alert&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=11462914&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–lwaCV3vb1ybGzlmGSP–6rGH9xcocUWwtn6FmSjOxhAJxXwL6dQnVt3tF0eK_sic4_TpwFa_c4EBCsMoKY459RwXIBWr1eKtKl9pLAePm9Duf36c&_hsmi=11462914 Map: ALEC’s Influence in Your State www.brookings.edu The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is known for writing model legislation with major industries and then encouraging their introduction – through their legislative partners – in statehouses nationwide....

Please read and share this article. It explains what’s at stake. Every Kansan who cares about public schools should have their eyes wide open. “The Legislature’s failure to adequately pay for public education is a long-running Kansas story. The Supreme Court in 2005 ordered lawmakers to put more money into school financing. Conservatives bitterly decried the ruling, but finally settled on increasing allocations for three years until they were funding schools by an additional $755 million annually. The state kept its word for two school years. Then the recession hit. Starting in the 2009 school year, Kansas cut...