Schools Matter: "Support Our Schools" Astroturf Group Rallies With Letter Writing Campaign to County Commissioners

Schools Matter: "Support Our Schools" Astroturf Group Rallies With Letter Writing Campaign to County Commissioners:

"Support Our Schools" Astroturf Group Rallies With Letter Writing Campaign to County Commissioners

by Jim Horn

The shenanigans going on this spring in Knoxville, TN, offer a powerful case study of corporate control of schools in action.

A few weeks before Eli Broad's East TN transplant, Jim McIntyre, delivered his State of the Schools speech in January of this year, a new grassroots astroturf group was formed to push the Broadie budget plan once it was presented by McIntyre.

The group, Support Our Schools, is headed by Virginia Babb, who is one of three paid staffers for a corporate 

Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers 

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers