"If you are a parent or educator who opposes top-down federal education schemes such as Common Core that undermine local control, dumb down rigorous curricula and threaten family privacy while enriching big business and lobbying groups, the U.S. Chamber od Commerce doesn't speak for you...
...Last year, the chamber poured more than $52 million into K Street lobbying efforts on behalf of illegal alien amnesty, Fed Ed Common Core programs and increased federal spending....
...In the case of Common Core, the chamber has made common cause with the left-wing, corporate-bashing Center for American Progress in a new Baptists and Bootleggers coalition. They are seemingly strange bedfellows who both profit from increased federal government intervention. For giant corporate publishers, such as Pearson and other big-business ventures backed by the chamber, it's all about cashing in on the public schools' Common Core captive guinea pigs in testing, teaching, data collection and data analysis.
For big government advocacy groups, such as CAP, it's all about diminishing state, local and parental control over local education and curricular decisions; expanding Washington's regulatory reach into the classroom; and ensuring the perpetuation of the Fed Ed bureaucracy...
...Last year, the chamber poured more than $52 million into K Street lobbying efforts on behalf of illegal alien amnesty, Fed Ed Common Core programs and increased federal spending....
...In the case of Common Core, the chamber has made common cause with the left-wing, corporate-bashing Center for American Progress in a new Baptists and Bootleggers coalition. They are seemingly strange bedfellows who both profit from increased federal government intervention. For giant corporate publishers, such as Pearson and other big-business ventures backed by the chamber, it's all about cashing in on the public schools' Common Core captive guinea pigs in testing, teaching, data collection and data analysis.
For big government advocacy groups, such as CAP, it's all about diminishing state, local and parental control over local education and curricular decisions; expanding Washington's regulatory reach into the classroom; and ensuring the perpetuation of the Fed Ed bureaucracy...
I completely agree with her. Related to the Chamber's support of Common Core is their unhealthy support for invasive, ineffective, and expensive early childhood programs and voucher programs with accountability requirements that will impose Common Core on private schools. Here is an excerpt from a report about Education Liberty Watch's fight with the Chamber on early childhood scholarships:
A business-backed proposal to create a statewide rating system for early education programs has run aground over fears of government intrusion.
Rep. Jennifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, proposed the rating system, which was included in the House education omnibus bill. Conservative advocacy groups, including the Minnesota Family Council and Education Liberty Watch, opposed the bill, arguing the state was intruding in decisions that should be made by parents. In an early morning debate on the education bill, Loon's proposal was removed.
Rep. Jennifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, proposed the rating system, which was included in the House education omnibus bill. Conservative advocacy groups, including the Minnesota Family Council and Education Liberty Watch, opposed the bill, arguing the state was intruding in decisions that should be made by parents. In an early morning debate on the education bill, Loon's proposal was removed.
Malkin sums up very well:
When businesses get in the government handout line, it's not a "public-private partnership." It's corporate welfare. Venture socialism. Whatever you call it, it stinks as much under Democrat administrations as it does under Republican ones.
Political candidates in Florida, especially Republicans are going to have to decide: Are they going to listen to their constituents and the Constitution, or the siren song of the corporate elite?