Big Business Shenanigans

The big business lobby in Louisiana loves to mess with education. They have not seen a deform or privatization scheme for public education that they did not like. LABI (The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry) wields its power over the Legislature because it commands big money control of the legislative process. It's simple! Legislators are afraid to go against LABI because big business can mobilize big dollars to either help or defeat legislators in their next election. It does not matter what real educators and real parents want as far as LABI is concerned. They know what is best for us!

LABI needs to create the impression that there are parents and educators who support the goals of big business in remaking education by firing teachers and administrators based on student test scores and for promoting voucher and charter school privatization schemes. Various business interests have therefore created what Noel Hammatt calls "Astro turf" (you know .... fake grass roots) organizations of parents and educators to counteract the legitimate educators and parents who do not agree with LABI and their allies. Here are the major fake groups lobbying the legislature that are really controlled by big business: Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL), Stand for Children, Louisiana Federation for Children, Associated Professional Educators, and the Black Alliance for Educational Options.

This year a real grass roots organization of parents have had their eyes opened at the legislature when they formed a group to object to the poorly implemented Common Core standards and the effort to create a big data sharing system for private companies to market their wares to educators and parents. Many real parents were appalled at the half-baked theories of Common Core and the idea that private details of their children's lives would be sold and shared with various companies and groups.

Please read this blog post by Louisiana Parents Against Common Core to find out about the many shenanigans being employed by the big business lobby and their astro turf co-conspirators.

I have to take a stand with the real parents. I am urging my readers to do the same. Several good bills are up for a vote in the Senate that protect real students and support real parents in wanting privacy for their children. Please email or call your senator and ask him/her to vote "yes" for the following bills:

HB 1076 Protects the private data of school children
HB 1199 Provides parental rights to view all instructional materials
HB 988 Provides local control of curriculum through our local school boards
HB 1015 Provides alternate pathways for students with disabilities. (It does not make sense to force all children, even those with severe handicaps to meet the same standards)

Don't forget that SB 636 will be voted upon on by the full House today. Please ask your state Rep. to vote "NO" on HB 636. See explanation below.