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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Charter School + Corporate Education Reform Industry continue record-breaking spending on lobbying - Wait What?

Charter School + Corporate Education Reform Industry continue record-breaking spending on lobbying - Wait What?:

Charter School + Corporate Education Reform Industry continue record-breaking spending on lobbying






With the 2015 session of the Connecticut General Assembly finally over, the corporate education reform industry is celebrating its victories.
More money for charter schools, while Connecticut’s public schools remain significantly underfunded, tops their list.
In addition, of course, there is the incredible and unethical defeat of the legislation that would have required Connecticut’s commissioner of education to have appropriate classroom and education experience.
All together the various corporate funded “education reform” groups dropped another $1.4 million, over the last six months, to promote and lobby on behalf of Governor Dannel Malloy’s anti-teacher, education reform initiatives that included diverting even more scarce public funds to privately owned, but publicly funded charter schools.
According to the June reports filed with the Connecticut Office of State Ethics, Charter Schools and Corporate Education Reform groups have spent the following so far this year;
Corporate Education Reform OrganizationAmount Spent on Lobbying
  
Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now, Inc. (ConnCAN)$84,100
  
Achievement First, Inc. (Dacia Toll/Stefan Pryor)$5,700
  
Connecticut Council for Education Reform  (CCER)$40,000
  
North East Charter School Network$109,700
  
Families for Excellent Schools Inc./Coalition for Every Child$1,123,300
Bronx Charter School for Excellence$13,100
  
Other Corporate Education Front Groups include FaithActs for Education, Educators 4 Excellence, Connecticut School Finance Project, Achieve Hartford, Excel Bridgeport… 
TOTAL LOBBYING EXPENDITURES BY CHARTER SCHOOL INDUSTRYJanuary 1, 2015 – May 31, 2015$1,375,900

Not surprising, a number of individuals associated with Malloy have collected huge Charter School + Corporate Education Reform Industry continue record-breaking spending on lobbying - Wait What?: