MICHELLE MALKIN calls out cronyism and corruption of education reformers

[yurbud]

When a high profile conservative pundit like Michelle Malkin starts describing education reform as "phony academic standards, crony contracts, and big-government and big-business collusion masquerading as 'reform,'" that shows how broad the opposition to the corporate take over of public schools is.

It goes without saying that I don't agree with everything she says, but apart from her digs at teachers and calling these policies "progessive" at one point, she mostly gets it right.

Nothing will stop politicians from pushing this corrupt, failed policy as long as they get their checks from those who will profit from it, but if the uproar against it gets big enough, INVESTORS might realize that these companies are a losing bet and pull the plug on them faster than you can say "mortgage-backed derivatives."

Or at least let's hope so.

The resignation of Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett couldn't have come at a better time. His disgraceful grade-fixing scandal is the perfect symbol of all that's wrong with the federal education schemes peddled by Bennett and his mentor, former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush: phony academic standards, crony contracts, big-government and big-business collusion masquerading as "reform."

Bennett stepped down Thursday after the Associated Press reported that he had meddled with charter school accountability ratings in Indiana last fall while serving as that state's schools superintendent. The beneficiary of his intervention? Big GOP donor and charter school operator Christel DeHaan, who has forked over nearly $3 million to Republicans (including $130,000 to Bennett).

***

t turns out that Bennett's wife was hired by an outfit called Charter Schools USA to serve as a regional director in Florida. The group just happens to be the same one Bennett contracted with to operate schools in Indianapolis that the state had taken over. The Indianapolis Star reported: "Tina Bennett is now earning a paycheck from the company her husband handpicked to take over schools in Indiana, a decision that was very good for the company's financial fortunes." Like the Church Lady said: How conveeeenient!

***

These good ol' boys bonded over their zeal for the top-down racket known as Common Core. As I've reported previously, this Fed Ed program is supported by both big-business interests (Microsoft founder Bill Gates and News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch's education arm) and government educrats. Progressive activists in both parties have worked on nationalized standards, tests and curriculum for decades under previous names: outcome-based education, national school-to-work, Goals 2000 and No Child Left Behind, for example. Obama administration bribery through "Race to the Top" greased the wheels for adoption of the Common Core program by cash-strapped states, many of which had more rigorous standards than the fed-imposed system.

http://www.noozhawk.com/article/michelle_malkin_jeb_bush_education_reform_20130804

[PopeOxycontinI]

1. Don't worry...

someone will have a conversation with her or hand her a nice check, and then she'll
fall in line or just be silent about the issue.

[yurbud]

2. she made it sound like she had talked about aspects of this before though

when I looked for this article, I found some pro-corporate reform articles earlier, so maybe you're right: it's just a shake down.

[Doctor_J]

3. Unrec

nothing from anyone like Malkin should be allowed on DU. Jeebers WTF is becoming of this place?

[yurbud]

4. you missed the point. It's not that Michelle Malkin is credible in general, but that EVEN SHE

recognizes that education "reform" is a scam.

It's like a hoarder saying someone else is filthy, which means whatever they are talking about is even further beyond the pale.