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VIDEO: Progress Michigan goes after ‘skunk works’ group working to commoditize/profitize Michigan public schools

By on May 16, 2013 in Corporatism, Education, Privatization, Rick Snyder

Ooo-ooo, that smell…

Last month, after the Detroit News tore back the curtains on the secretive “skunk works” group, staffed by some of Gov. Snyder’s aides and aimed at destroying our public school system while funneling the proceeds to for-profit charter schools, the group was quickly reconfigured to be one that was more, shall we say, public? The Governor’s staffer was replaced with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan who vowed any discussion of vouchers and the like would be “off the table”.

My pals at Progress Michigan endeavored to learn more about the group with a Freedom of Information Act request but were, in part, denied because “the Basecamp server that housed ‘Skunk Works’ discussions and files was shut down following the revelation of the group’s existence, making several files unavailable.”

They did receive some documents however.…


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UPDATED: Privatizing struggling schools: a cautionary tale of a corporate-backed, astroturf group strong-arming parents

By on May 2, 2013 in Education, Privatization

Coming soon to an Education Achievement Authority school near you?

Alternet has a frightening piece up this week about the experience of a small, impoverished California town that utilized a “parent trigger” to give its school system over to a private group. The piece, “Exposed: The Billionaire-Backed Group Strong-Arming Parents into Destroying Their Kids’ Public Schools” is worth your time to read.

The story is one of a corporate-funded drive to privatize schools in poor areas. What’s frightening is that there is legislation for doing the same here in Michigan and there is nothing in the bill that would prevent making these schools profit centers for for-profit corporate education companies. Funded by groups like the Walton Family Foundation, the Gates Foundation and the Broad foundation, a group called “Parent Revolution” used strong arm tactics and bullying to convince poor residents of Adelanto, California to privatize their school system.

Click through for more.


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Secret school reform group works to design a for-profit school model with Governor Snyder’s blessing

By on April 20, 2013 in Corporatism, Education, Privatization, Rick Snyder

Okay, this stinks

Here’s the thing about the idea of giving Michigan parents vouchers to use at any school, public or private, to educate their kids: it’s unconstitutional. Twice in the past 35 years Michigan voters have shot down ballot proposals to allow the funneling of tax dollars into private, non-public schools. This, of course, doesn’t stop corporatist groups and individuals like the Mackinac Center or the DeVos family for pushing endlessly for a school voucher system and the shifting of tax money earmarked for education into for-profit corporations.

This past week the Detroit News did some fantastic investigative journalism and reported that a group of school reformers, a self-dubbed “skunk works”, has been meeting in secret with the Governor’s blessing to form a new sort of private school where kids will be educated on the cheap using a for-profit model and it will be paid for with vouchers. The best part? No educators are part of the group.

Details after the jump.


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Michigan Republican Township Supervisor not happy with privatized prison in his area

By on June 14, 2012 in Privatization

It’s all fine until it happens to you

As Republicans across the country move toward privatizing absolutely everything that isn’t nailed down, one Republican Township Supervisor in Michigan is decidedly NOT happy about the privatization of a prison in his municipality.

Details after the jump.


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