The Op-Ed the Journal Sentinel Chose Not to Run on the MMAC
MMAC Seeks to Influence Education Policy through Candidate Recruitment
By Larry Miller
By Larry Miller
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) is holding a “campaign training school” on Saturday April 12 to recruit candidates for public office who are in support of what they call pro-educational choice. The MAAC is uniting with the American Federation for Children, a Michigan-based voucher advocacy group, and a New York pro-voucher lobby group that calls itself Democrats for Education Reform.
Billed as a “bipartisan event,” the American Federation for Children (AFC) is anything but bipartisan. The group is led by Betty DeVos, the billionaire wife of Amway founder and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party Richard DeVos. In recent years, she has funneled tens of millions of dollars into school privatization efforts and other conservative initiatives.
The American Federation for Children spent $1.5 million helping Republicans in the recall elections. That includes some $900,000 spent to help Scott Walker fend off a challenge from Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
The AFC has roots in Milwaukee. It has shared an address and leadership with its 501(c)(3) partner Alliance for School Choice, both groups promoting public school privatization through voucher programs.
AFC is also a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). That’s the organization in which corporate lobbyists have formulated and advanced much of the legislation enacted by Republican-dominated state legislatures across the country. “Stand Your Ground” laws, efforts to restrict voting rights, voucher creation and expansion bills, bills to cut
St. Marcus Lutheran School is seldom talked about, among its supporters, without the descriptor “high performing school.” The Wisconsin data on reading proficiency paints quite another picture. Last year, the St. Marcus leadership had elementary school children pounding on the Malcolm X building doors, yelling “let us in.” That year St. Marcus grades 3 through 8 saw only 21% of its students readin