American Public Education Will Face Extinction Unless We Stop It | The Global Dispatch | The Global Dispatch

American Public Education Will Face Extinction Unless We Stop It | The Global Dispatch | The Global Dispatch

American Public Education Will Face Extinction Unless We Stop It

For generations, Americans have grown up in a society that has striven to provide a level playing field for all. It is all in service to the idea that anyone, regardless of their background, ancestry, race, or place of origin could live the American dream. Part of the way our government has supported that idea has been through public education.

As far back as the 1640s, tax dollars in the settlements that would become the United States have paid for public schooling for citizens of all stripes. In fact, from a global perspective, public education is an uncontroversial concept. The United Nations features universal primary education as a key goal of its UNICEF initiatives, reflecting the near complete recognition of the import of education around the world. Most industrialized nations even offer government funded courses in varied vocations as a part of comprehensive public education. Why then, is the United States Department of Education (DOE) doing everything in its power to devalue and destroy public education?

Deconstructing American Public Education

The American public education system is complex, with tax dollars from the local, state, and federal levels combining into a vast network of government-run primary, secondary, and university school systems from coast to coast. According to DOE estimates, the primary and secondary public school systems alone cost $634 billion to operate in the fiscal year 2013-14, the latest range for which data is available. That’s quite a lot of money and quite a big target for private interests looking for a slice of the education funding pie.

By 2010, the cause of privatization had attracted enough funding and attention from the wealthy and business interests to create what appeared to be, from the outside, a grassroots reform movement. Central to that movement was a member of a wealthy Michigan family, who had advocated for privatizing public education in her home state for years – with disastrous results. Her name is Betsy DeVos, and she’s now running the DOE in the Trump administration.

A Robbery in Progress

One of the central pillars of the so-called reform of public education that DeVos has sought for so long is the drive to create and expand school voucher programs. The idea seems appealing if you don’t look too closely at the details. The general idea is to provide funding for education directly to parents in the form of a voucher that they could spend at any school, public or private, that they choose for their child. In that way, the theory goes, students trapped in underperforming public schools could escape to find a better educational outcome. The problem – it’s already been tried throughout the nation of Chile, and it does nothing to improve education for students.

What it does accomplish, unfortunately, is the utter destruction of existing public school systems, while facilitating the transfer of billions of dollars of education funding into the coffers of private institutions. The only mitigating factor would be scrupulous regulation of the private and charter schools that end up with the lion’s share of the public education dollars. That, however, would disrupt the fleecing of education tax dollars by imposing real penalties for underperforming private and charter schools. Revealingly, that’s why another pillar of so-called education reform is a near-complete lack of oversightof the companies swallowing up public education funds.

The Fox in the Henhouse

Betsy DeVos, of course, has already been installed as the head of the DOE. It’s easy to argue that the damage that she’s poised to do to American public education is now unavoidable. As the recent teacher strikes in five states proved, though, change is still possible if enough people demand it. Defenders of America’s tradition of equal opportunity and universal basic education can’t wait another moment to make their voices heard. As we speak, the number of professional staff at the DOE is shrinking, and the Republican-led House of Representatives is advancing a bill that will funnel more funds into a DOE with questionable priorities.

Until the midterm elections give progressives the chance to wrest control of some of the levers of power, it’s incumbent upon all of us to make our voices heard to make sure that American public education remains the primary guarantor of the American dream. If we don’t, it may be another casualty of a system that’s tilting dangerously in favor of the wealthy and powerful, and our children will pay the price for our collective silence and inaction.

Author: Andrej Kovacevic

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Oakland's BayTech Charter School Violated Multiple State Laws | East Bay Express

Oakland's BayTech Charter School Violated Multiple State Laws | East Bay Express

Oakland's BayTech Charter School Violated Multiple State Laws
School administrators forced students to buy uniforms, graduation caps and gowns, and made parents buy tickets to attend ceremonies. BayTech's board also repeatedly violated the Brown Act.

The Bay Area Technology School violated state education laws when it required students and their families to purchase uniforms, graduation tickets, and caps and gowns, according to the Oakland Unified School District. All students were made to purchase uniforms from the Oakland charter school only, a violation of the education code. 

Graduating 8th and 12th graders were made to purchase caps and gowns from the school, and their family members were required to buy $10 tickets to attend the ceremony. 

These practices went on for several years, according to school staff who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. BayTech even warned parents on its website that students would only be allowed to wear BayTech branded jackets, sweaters, and shirts, and that students could face discipline if they didn't don the clothing.

The proceeds BayTech collected from these illegal activities amounted to thousands of dollars, said several sources. It's unclear what the school's administration did with the money.

OUSD authorities ordered BayTech to put a stop to these practices on June 8, according to a notice of concern sent to the charter school's board and interim co-principals by Leslie Jimenez, OUSD's charter school coordinator.

In a separate notice of concern sent a week earlier, OUSD officials warned BayTech leaders that they repeatedly violated California's Brown Act, which requires that charter schools provide public access to meetings because they receive public funding.

According to OUSD, BayTech's board convened meetings in February  Continue Reading: Oakland's BayTech Charter School Violated Multiple State Laws | East Bay Express

Big Education Ape: GULEN FRAUD IN OAKLAND: BayTech Charter School Under Investigation | East Bay Express - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/08/gulen-fraud-in-oakland-baytech-charter.html

'Disaster Capitalism Strikes Again!': Puerto Rico's High Court Gives Green Light to Charter Schools, Vouchers

'Disaster Capitalism Strikes Again!': Puerto Rico's High Court Gives Green Light to Charter Schools, Vouchers

'Disaster Capitalism Strikes Again!': Puerto Rico's High Court Gives Green Light to Charter Schools, Vouchers
New ruling overturns finding by lower court that charters and vouchers—part of the island's education overhaul post-hurricane—were unconstitutional

Puerto Rico's controversial plan to overhaul the island's education system moved forward after its high court issued a ruling this week overturning a lower court's finding that charter schools and vouchers were unconstitutional.

"Disaster capitalism strikes again!" commented education historian Diane Ravitch, who also called it a "victory for rapacious billionaires, [Education Secretary and charter school proponent] Betsy DeVos, and DFER [Democrats for Education Reform]."

"Instead of putting the PR economy on a path to recovery," Ravitch added, "the disaster capitalists will give them charters and vouchers."

The legal challenge was brought forth by teachers' union La Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (AMPR),  soon after the Gov. Ricardo Rosselló signed into law "education reform" legislation creating a charter schools pilot program in 10 percent of public schools and offering private school vouchers to 3 percent of students. The plan has been promoted heavily by Julia Keleher, Puerto Rico's non-Puerto Rican Education Secretary.

"To say charters are public schools when they are going to be administered, directed, and controlled by private hands is clearly an illegal and unconstitutional contradiction," AMPR president Aida Diaz said at the time.

In response to the new ruling, Providence Journal education reporter Linda Borg posed a question on social media:

Courts have ruled that charter expansion can go forward in Puerto Rico. will be curious to see if the island becomes fully chartered like NoLa after the hurricane.

— Linda Borg (@lborgprojocom) August 10, 2018

Also referring to post-Katrina New Orleans, Jeremy Aponte, a member of the Boston Teachers Union's Puerto Rican educators group and Jessica Tang, president of the Continue reading: 'Disaster Capitalism Strikes Again!': Puerto Rico's High Court Gives Green Light to Charter Schools, Vouchers

All the ways Brett Kavanaugh is going to help Betsy DeVos – ThinkProgress

All the ways Brett Kavanaugh is going to help Betsy DeVos – ThinkProgress

All the ways Brett Kavanaugh is going to help Betsy DeVos
Kavanaugh's confirmation could do irreparable damage to public education and students.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has faced opposition from advocates of abortion rights, workers’ rights, and voter rights, all of whom have pointed out the disastrous effect he could have on crucial protections. But little has been said about Kavanaugh’s potential impact on public education and the irreparable damage he could do to students.
Since her confirmation, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has pushed for private school vouchers at every opportunity, dismantled civil rights protections, anddefended for-profit colleges at the expense of students and taxpayers — and all evidence points to Kavanaugh sharing her agenda.
DeVos’ continued support for vouchers is particularly egregious, considering the overwhelming research that shows their harmful effect on student learning. In voucher programs, states or cities use taxpayer dollars to pay the tuition costs for students to attend private schools. As a result, vouchers funnel money away from the public schools that serve approximately 90 percent of students.

DeVos proposes rule to make it harder for defrauded students to get their loans forgiven
The impact of Washington, D.C.’s federally sponsored voucher program on student learning, for example, was equivalent to missing 68 days of school. Voucher programs in Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio fare similarly. What’s more, vouchers aremeaningless for students in rural states like Alaska, Maine, and North Dakota, where there are few alternatives to local public schools — and any loss of students could end up decimating the public system.
Over the past couple of years, DeVos has largely been unable to enact her voucher agenda due to its unpopularity across the country and within Congress. But, if confirmed, Kavanaugh may be the solution to her problems.  
Kavanaugh’s record on education speaks for itself. In Florida, as an attorney, Kavanaugh defended — for a reduced fee — then-Governor Jeb Bush’s private school voucher program, which the Florida Supreme Court later found to be unconstitutional. In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, he praisedformer Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist’s view that a wall of separation between church and state is “based on bad history.” In the same speech, he also lauded Rehnquist’s majority opinions upholding both private school vouchers in Ohio and tax deductions for private school tuition in Minnesota.

The risks of a Kavanaugh confirmation are real. Last year, the Supreme Court ruledthat Missouri could not deny funding to a church for fixing up its playground, despite the state’s prohibition on public funds going to religious institutions. While the ruling was narrowly focused on playgrounds, Betsy DeVos celebrated the decision.
At the same time, the Supreme Court declined to rule on a Colorado case in which the Colorado Supreme Court found a voucher program unconstitutional. This case could very well find its way back to the nation’s highest court, with a Justice Kavanaugh ready to strike down any prohibitions on funneling public money away from public schools and to private religious institutions.
Importantly, vouchers are not the only issue on which Kavanaugh and DeVos are fully aligned. While the Trump administration has been calling to arm teachers, the National Rifle Association is pushing for Kavanaugh’s confirmation with at least $1 million of ad buys.
Who is Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s pick to replace Anthony Kennedy?
DeVos is making it nearly impossible for students cheated by their colleges to get Continue reading: All the ways Brett Kavanaugh is going to help Betsy DeVos – ThinkProgress

Tell The Senate: Stop Brett Kavanaugh - 

Ref Is Gone: Ripples of Hope from a Resignation - LA Progressive

Ref Is Gone: Ripples of Hope from a Resignation - LA Progressive

Ref Is Gone: Ripples of Hope from a Resignation

In resigning from the L.A. school board last month, Ref Rodriguez pled guilty to felony conspiracy, admitted to money laundering, and agreed to pay a $100,000 fine to the ethics commission. Downfall of the longtime charter-school treasurer opens a seat on the board of the school district with the second most students in the nation, 18 percent of them in charter schools.

As a new school year starts, his departure leaves lessons about representation, and misrepresentation, in the communities that narrowly elected him three years ago and throughout metropolitan L.A.

As a new school year starts, his departure leaves lessons about representation, and misrepresentation, in the communities that narrowly elected him three years ago and throughout metropolitan L.A.

First, Rodriguez’ exit amid a criminal trial for manipulating money and his public disclosure statements shows the gulf in openness between some private charter-school operations and the public sector. Several charter schools in L.A. County face challenges over their accounting standards, dramatized by the FBI raid on the Celerity schools’ offices in 2017. Rodriguez himself faces an ongoing probe by federal investigators for writing checks to entities he had a financial stake in, which came to light along with his scheme of fraudulent reimbursement of phony donations. Besides disserving the public, this shortcoming in the area of financial oversight could hurt the reputation of candidates closely aligned with charter schools when they face voters.

Second, Rodriguez’ misdeeds prompted an unusual outcry from a diverse group of community leaders, including Neighborhood Council members, current and retired education professionals, and former members of the L.A. school board. Protests centered on misrepresentations in his campaign and intensified this spring when he stayed on the board after his arrest during work hours for public drunkenness. They highlight a healthy and growing concern for integrity in representation in governing bodies for Angelenos in communities along the L.A. River. Voter turnout in local and state elections in neighborhoods in the eastern parts of the county often comes in at half that witnessed in Westside and Valley districts. But civic engagement among voters in Eastside and adjacent communities is making a comeback.

Whistle-blowing over Rodriguez’ fraud is a case in point. It did not take rocket scientists to spot a suspicious pattern of low-wage workers employed by his chain of charter schools supposedly finding $1,000 or more in the closing days of 2014 to make lavish donations to Rodriguez’ campaign for school board. It did, however, take alert citizens. Many of us answered questions Continue reading: Ref Is Gone: Ripples of Hope from a Resignation - LA Progressive

Big Education Ape: L.A. School Board in Limbo After Member's Felony Plea | Capital & Main - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/07/la-school-board-in-limbo-after-members.html

Big Education Ape: BREAKING NEWS: Ref Rodriguez pleads guilty to conspiracy and resigns from L.A. school board - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/07/breaking-news-ref-rodriguez-pleads.html

Big Education Ape: OMG: CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's PUC Lakeview Charter Academy Audit - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/04/ccsas-ref-rodriguezs-puc-lakeview.html

Black To School With The New Book, “Teaching for Black Lives”: “Every school in the country needs this.” – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Black To School With The New Book, “Teaching for Black Lives”: “Every school in the country needs this.” – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Black To School With The New Book, “Teaching for Black Lives”: “Every school in the country needs this.”

It has been exhilarating to read the reviews that are steaming in about Teaching for Black Lives, the new book I co-edited with Dr. Dyan Watson and Dr. Wayne Au. Recent reviews include The Washington Post who called the book, “A handbook to help all educators fight racism” and Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union, who wrote, “I consider it a must-read—the kind of book with ideas so interesting, you want to chew them over with others.(Reading group, anyone?) The bonus is the book’s rich, evocative art, which is as intense as the essays.”

At the early book tour stops I have spoken at in Minneapolis and Chicago the reception has been overwhelming—selling out of the copies of the books we came with and engaging in many wonderful discussions with educators and organizers about how to fight for racial justice in education.

I am hearing from educators across the country on social media who are reading the book closely as they prepare to return to the classroom. Teachers from Denver and Philadelphia have organized study groups around Teaching for Black Lives. The editors of the book are lining up book tour stops this school year in Seattle, Maryland, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and in New York City at the Schomburg Library for Research in Black Culture.  One of the things people love about the book is the gorgeous artwork. Black artists from around the country contributed vivid illustrations that bring the essays alive. The beautiful cover illustration by Ekua Holmes has become what I imagine freedom to be when I close my eyes.

Our hope is that this book is used both to bring antiracist pedagogy into the classroom and to help build the growing Black Lives Matter at School movement. The BLM at School movement started in Seattleand then became a week of action in Philadelphia during the 2016-2017 school year. Then the movement exploded nationally during the 2017-2018 school year with educators in over twenty cities participating in a week of action for racial justice in the schools from February 5-9.

Check out the below reviews for Teaching for Black Lives. If you’re convinced, order the book, organize a study group, invite the editors of the book to come speak to your campus, join the #BlackLivesMatterAtSchool action during the first week of February, and teach for Black lives every day of the year.

“‘Teaching for Black Lives’ — a handbook to help all educators fight racism.”

—WASHINTON POST

“Teaching For Black Lives book presents ideas for empowering marginalized students.”

—SEATTLE TIMES

“Teaching for Black Lives offers a rich array of essays that help build a school-to-justice pipeline.”

—TRUTH OUT’S “Progressive Pick”

This book is not just for teachers in the classroom, but also for those of us who 
care about making Black lives matter in the community. It should be required reading for all who care about the future of Black youth.”

—OPAL TOMETI, #BlackLivesMatter co-founder and executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration

By OLIVIA WISE

This book is for all the educators who want to look at what they are teaching—and how they are teaching it—to help students figure out this era of upheaval… The writers are educators, reporters, authors, and activists. Their eloquence and passion force us to challenge our assumptions about other people and ourselves. To me, that’s the very best kind of reading.

—LILY ESKELSEN GARCIA, president of the National Education Association

“Teaching for Black Lives … is the one you need.”

— KELLY WICKHAM HURST, from her article for the Medium, “Teachers Need to Prepare for the 2018–19 School Year. Here’s How.”

“In this edited volume, we learn that Black Lives Matter is not just a rallying cry in the movement against police abuse and violence, but it is also a critical framework for understanding the persistent attacks on public education. As public schools face withering attacks on the national, state, and local level, this important collection edited by Watson, Hagopian, and Au will educate, inspire, and rally those in the struggle for education justice. From students, to educators, to a public that cares about public education, this book is a must- read to know the issues at stake and the strategies necessary to win.”

—KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR, Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

By ERIN ROBINSON

“This is essential. Every school in the country needs this. No book better unpacks and gives color to the modern movement we’re in than this.”

—SHAUN KING, activist and journalist

“I love Teaching for Black Lives because it’s a bible to understanding both the contributions of Black and Brown people to America as well as the struggles and chains of institutional racism.”

—MICHAEL BENNETT, author of Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

“Every teacher in America needs to pick up this book.”

—LINDA SARSOUR, national co-chair of the Women’s March and co-founder of MPower Change

“Teaching for Black Lives is a moral lifeline for all educators looking to rehumanize our schools and society through education, love, and action.”

—AWO OKAIKOR ARYEE-PRICE, educator and national co-organizer of Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

Richie Pope

“Again, the folks at Rethinking Schools have stepped out to produce a timely volume that should become a central staple in how we understand race and the radical imaginary in K–12 classrooms.”

—DAVID STOVALL, Professor of African American Studies and Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

“Anyone who teaches Black students or has a Black child in school must read this book.”

—DARNELL M. HUNT, Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at UCLA

“Teaching For Black Lives is not just a recommendation, but a liberating ultimatum.”

–Busted Pencils Podcast

Black To School With The New Book, “Teaching for Black Lives”: “Every school in the country needs this.” – I AM AN EDUCATOR

The Secret Network of Black Teachers Behind the Fight for Desegregation - The Atlantic #educolor

'The Lost Education of Horace Tate' and Desegregation - The Atlantic

The Secret Network of Black Teachers Behind the Fight for Desegregation

In her new book, Vanessa Siddle Walker reveals how African American educators became the ‘hidden provocateurs’ who spearheaded the push for racial justice in education.

For 25 years, the Emory University professor Vanessa Siddle Walker has studied and written about the segregated schooling of black children. In her latest book, The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools, Walker tells the little-known story of how black educators in the South—courageously and covertly—laid the groundwork for 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education and weathered its aftermath.

The tale is told primarily through the life of Horace Tate, an acclaimed Georgia classroom teacher, principal, and one-time executive director of the Georgia Teachers and Education Association (GTEA), an organization for black educators founded in 1878. Later in his career, he became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky; at the time, Georgia still banned black students from state doctoral programs. Walker first met Tate in 2000. Over the course of the next two years, he told her about clandestine meetings among and outreach to influential black educators, lawyers, and community members tracing back to the 1940s. He also revealed black teachers’ secret and skillful organizing to demand equality and justice for African American children in Southern schools. After Tate’s death in 2002 at the age of 80, Walker continued a 15-year exploration, relying on Tate’s extensive archives to expose the full picture of how black educators mounted civil rights battles—in the years preceding and immediately following the Brown decision—to protect the interests of black children.

The resulting account, which features anecdotes about and cites wisdom from prominent black leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and W.E.B. Du Bois, offers an intriguing look at black education and helps inform the ongoing discourse on school desegregation. I recently spoke with Walker about the crucial role black educators played in the evolution of public education in the South. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

---

Melinda D. Anderson: The traditional narrative surrounding the history of school integration is filled with fearless NAACP attorneys, well-timed lawsuits, and national civil-rights leaders. As you write, this history is not incorrect. But in what ways is it incomplete?

Vanessa Siddle Walker: To overturn Plessy v. Ferguson—the 1896 Supreme Court case upholding the separate-but-equal doctrine—you have to have access to the people in the South. But if you’re in the NAACP’s national office in New York, how do you know who in the South will be a plaintiff? How do you launch a movement when you can't really work well in the South because of the hostile climate? At the same time, black teachers in the South have data on school Continue reading: 'The Lost Education of Horace Tate' and Desegregation - The Atlantic

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GULEN FRAUD IN OAKLAND: BayTech Charter School Under Investigation | East Bay Express

BayTech Charter School Under Investigation | East Bay Express

BayTech Charter School Under Investigation 
The principal suddenly resigned after the school's board accused him of fraud, but the controversy raises questions about the school's links to the Gülen movement.

Just before the end of the last school year, the principal of Oakland's Bay Area Technology School, Hayri Hatipoglu, suddenly resigned. At least four other senior staff and two of the charter school's five board members also abruptly quit. As a result, the organization was thrown into chaos. And then Hatipoglu disappeared. According to several sources, he left the country with his family for Australia, where he is a citizen.

Afterwards, the Oakland Unified School District, which is responsible for overseeing the BayTech charter school, opened an investigation. BayTech's three remaining board members also hired an independent party to carry out their own internal review.

While OUSD and BayTech have both attempted to keep the mini-crisis under wraps, the Express has learned that BayTech's three remaining board members are accusing Hatipoglu of defrauding the school. They allege that Hatipoglu surreptitiously changed his employment contract to provide himself with three years' worth of severance pay totaling about $450,000, an unusually large sum for a small school with an annual budget of approximately $3 million. His previous contract provided for only six months of severance pay, a standard in the education sector.

"We believe he changed his contract," said BayTech board member Fatih Dagdelen in a recent interview. "According to his contract, he'd get paid a six-months salary if he resigned, but all of a sudden his contract said he'd get paid two-and-a-half years further."

As to why Hatipoglu resigned, Dagdelen declined to say, but he added, "we have a lot of evidence and believe there's a fraud."

Hatipoglu has countered that he did nothing wrong. Instead, he alleges that Dagdelen and two other BayTech board members are part of a "shady network" trying to "take over" the school.

In an unusual and unsolicited email to the Express sent on June 28, Hatipoglu wrote that the school's Turkish board members conspired to punish him for his decision to break ties with a Southern California-based nonprofit. The nonprofit, Accord Institute, happens to be controlled by the followers of a powerful Turkish imam who leads a global Islamic political force called the Gülen movement.

Founded in the 1970s by the religious leader Fethullah Gülen, the Gülen movement is an Islamic-inspired social and political force that Continue reading: BayTech Charter School Under Investigation | East Bay Express

Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour

Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour

Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups

Conservative, free-market groups across the country have launched campaigns aimed at persuading teachers to drop out of their unions, in the aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will put a dent in unions’ finances and membership numbers.

For the past year, union officials had been preparing to face both an adverse ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 — which in June determined public-employee unions could no longer collect fees from nonmembers for collective bargaining—and subsequent efforts by anti-union groups to get teachers to end their memberships. But the speed and scope of the anti-union messaging has been striking.

In some cases, school district officials have even stepped in to block the flow of these outside messages on school system email servers.

Right-leaning think tanks and advocacy organizations have placed anti-union ads on Google and social media and sent targeted emails to teachers across the country. Some plan to go door to door to reach educators during the summer.

Ashley Elpern Chapman, a public school teacher and union member in Newton, Massachusetts, received a message from one of these groups, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the day after the Janus decision came down on June 27.

“The wording of [the email] sounded very manipulative, and very, ‘We’re here to help you,’” she said. “They’re there to push an agenda — not looking out for teachers.”

National unions and state affiliates have been quick to highlight that many of these organizations receive funding from prominent conservative donors and have ties to the Koch family foundations, which have donated millions of dollars to conservative and libertarian groups. The groups see the Janus decision as an opportunity to gut money from the unions, who support Democratic candidates and issues. The Mackinac Center also receives funding from The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, a philanthropic group started nearly three decades ago by the now-U.S. secretary of education and her husband. Unions argue that these email and social-media campaigns are designed to suppress workers’ rights and benefit corporate interest.

But Patrick Wright, the Mackinac Center’s vice president for legal affairs, says that his organization is simply providing teachers with the facts necessary to Continue reading:  Teachers are getting targeted anti-union emails from conservative groups | PBS NewsHour