Private companies want a share of public education dollars: Chalk It Up | OregonLive.com

Private companies want a share of public education dollars: Chalk It Up | OregonLive.com:

Private companies want a share of public education dollars: Chalk It Up

from Oregon Education by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

A gaggle of lobbyists wait outside the House chamber of the Oregon Legislature for the final gavel to fall during the 2011 session.Ross William Hamilton / The Oregonian

Education Week, a national news outlet that covers K-12 education, hasa big article out today (mainly behind a paywall) that looks at the many ways for-profit education companies are trying to influence education policies and laws -- usually to get a share of public education dollars.

One focus of the article is how much education corporations put into lobbying.

In Oregon right now, K-12 Inc., which operates the statewide online charter school Oregon Virtual Academy, has two lobbyists working the Oregon Legislature.Connections Education LLC, which operates the even bigger online charter Oregon Connections Academy, also has two lobbyists working to influence the legislature.

How big a deal is that? Maybe not so big. The Oregon Education Association, the state's teacher union, has more lobbyists this session than the two companies combined, five.

The Education Week article says:

The online education provider K12 Inc.—a publicly traded company with