Backers of the Bashers of Public Education Overview For the past 20 years public education has been pilloried more than any other government institution, thanks to the work of just a few individuals. The notion that the nation’s public schools are failing gained credence with the help of a core of well-financed critics of public education, who have used that financing to peddle their anti-public school venom. This paper takes a look those “anything but public schools” persons, and identifies who have been their “sugar daddies.” Our aim is to expose the backers of these public education ‘bashers.’ American Association of School Administrators July 2005 Background Over the course of the past 20 years public education has been served up as “failing” by those eager to see its downfall. The launch of that effort coincided with the 1983 release of “A Nation at Risk,” which a top political strategist for then-President Ronald Reagan called “a little report gathering dust” at the Education Department, that was released with great fanfare “because Reagan didn’t have an education plan” for his re-election effort. In the ensuing years members of the far right have attempted to link the word “failing” to public schools in the minds of the public. Cementing that concept in the public psyche should yield to fertile ground in which to plant and grow government vouchers to religious and other private schools. Is that goal altruistic or political? With the passage of the No Child Left Behind act, a law that uses a negative concept as its raison d’être, those who seek the downfall of public education now have a tool that uses the U.S. Department of Education to help attach the “failing” label to nearly every school system in the nation. Why has public education gone from a positive issue, around which members of both major political parties have coalesced for years, into a target for Washington domination of this most local of institutions? Much of the credit can be taken by those who have manipulated public opinion through speeches, newspaper and television interviews and editorial opinion, and an endless barrage of expensive print and electronic media advertisements. But where do these high-profile public school bashers get the funds to back their crusade against public schooling, the bedrock of state constitutions? The “People” Money Read our landmark study, “Vouchers: Who’s Behind It All?” (Updated June 27, 2005) http://www.aasa.org/government_relations/other/07_30_01_voucher_supporters.htm, to learn the names of the organizations, that ardently advocate for public money to be spent on private schools, and the groups that fund each of these tax-exempt entities. With this paper we intend to look at the individuals who are the most visible on the anti- public education/pro-voucher front, and the benefactors who give them the livelihood that allows them to pontificate. Grover Norquist – President, Americans for Tax Reform Statements: Norquist’s driving principle: “I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” (Source: NPR interview, 5/25/01) "We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals,” he told the Denver Post, “and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship. Bipartisanship,” he said, “is another name for date rape." “The next person who runs for president, Norquist told Reason magazine, “should run on the six non-negotiables: (1) Racial preferences…(2) Tort Reform…(3) a single-rate tax system…(4) School choice, because the teachers' unions won't allow it. (5) Opposition to gun control. (6) A balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution…” “When you see [such] arguments [as] ‘should creationism be taught in the public schools?’ he told Reason, “Once you move to school choice you have eliminated that argument and it's not a problem any more.” “[I]f you privatize Social Security, if you voucherize education, if you sell the $270 billion worth of airports and wastewater treatment plants, eliminate welfare, and so on, you can get the federal government, state government and local government to basically half” Background: Grover Norquist served as a key aide to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and helped design Gingrich’s “Contract With America;” was on the campaign staff on the 1988, 1992, and 1996 Republican Platform Committees; and formerly was executive director of the College Republicans. He is also well-connected with large scale U.S. business interests, having served as economist and chief speech writer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1983-1984). [Source: MediaTransparency.org] Norquist holds a Master’s of business administration and a bachelor of arts degree in economics, both from Harvard University. Norquist serves on the board of the National Rifle Association of America, serves on the board of the American Conservative Union, served as a commissioner on the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, a government-funded body created by Congress in 1998, and served on the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, a government-funded body created by Congress in 1997. (Source: Americans for Tax Reform) Backers of Americans for Tax Reform: Walton Family Foundation $ 85,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation 100,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation 50,000 John M. Olin Foundation Inc. 50,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation 50,000 John M. Olin Foundation Inc. 75,000 The Carthage Foundation 50,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation 100,000 JM Foundation 25,000 John M. Olin Foundation Inc. 100,000 The Carthage Foundation 50,000 John M. Olin Foundation Inc. 100,000 The Carthage Foundation 75,000 (Source: Media Transparency.org) Note: for description of contributors, see “V: The Foundations” at http://www.aasa.org/government_relations/other/07_30_01_voucher_supporters.htm Lobbying Clients of Grover Norquist: Americans for Tax Reform Fannie Mae Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Americans for Tax Reform Microsoft Corp. – (sole lobbyist) $120,000 Echostar Communications Inc. Microsoft Corp – (sole lobbyist) $100,000 Distilled Spirits Council Edison Electric Group Interactive Gaming Council American Business for Legal Immigration American Immigration Lawyers Assn. First Amendment Coalition for Expression Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Distilled Spirits Council Microsoft Corp. – (sole lobbyist) $ 60,000 (Source: Center for Responsive Politics) William J. Bennett – Founder: Empower America, Fellow; Heritage Foundation Statements: “American schools are in general not very good, but our local schools are probably not any better.” “academic achievement among our students has, at best, stagnated during the past 40 years.” “To put it simply, the longer a child stays in school in the United States, the less that child knows relative to students in other industrialized nations.” “America is a land of second, third and fourth chances. When our K-12 education system fails, a number of safety nets cushion the fall. American companies now spend billions of dollars every year for on-the-job training, in large part to cover for the shortcomings of our school systems. In addition, our colleges and universities are increasingly devoted not to higher learning but to remedial education.” “The purpose of an education is not merely to prepare citizens for work, it is to prepare them for life…When our schools fail to fulfill this vital role, our citizens (especially those least able to learn these lessons at home) are forever diminished—and we, as a nation, are diminished as well.” “…it should not be a great surprise to anyone that the next chapter in education will be found in large part in the intersection of the public and private sectors. (Source: Hoover Digest, Winter 2001) “The real concern is when those in the education establishment use OBE (outcome-based education) to (1) eliminate objective measurable criteria (like standardized tests); (2) do away with the traditional subject-based curriculum in favor of an emphasis on things like general skills, attitudes and behaviors; and (3) advance their own radical social agenda. Increasingly, OBE is applied to the realm of behavior and social attitudes becoming, in effect, a Trojan Horse for social engineering, an elementary and secondary school version of the kind of “politically correct” thinking that has infected our colleges and universities.” (Source: Empower America Issue Briefing, 5/27/1993) “The president should fight for this critical element of this plan, for school choice is not simply an accountability issue, it is a moral and civil rights issue. It is about empowering poor parents with the option of a better education when their children are trapped in schools that repeatedly fail to meet basic standards.” (Source: Los Angeles Times, 5/4/2001) “I have often maintained that the chief enemy of public education in this country is the public education system itself. Bureaucracies at the federal, state and local levels have become a significant obstacle to an excellent education for millions of American children. Frequently, these bureaucracies are extraordinarily resistant to change, fiercely protective of their own interests, and incapable of allowing any aspect of teaching or learning to go unregulated.” “Models for academic excellence are all around us—again, simply consider the two million home-schooled children who are already receiving an extraordinary education.” (Source: World Magazine 4/28/2001) Background: William Bennett was chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1981-85) and U.S. Secretary