Laura Clawson.
StudentsFirst
has been having a rough week, what with the bad publicity around their choice
of one of the authors of Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" bill as "reformer
of the year." The organization repudiated the
bill in response, but didn't disown the legislator. In the
meantime they've been blasted
by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and many Democrats nationally who
are realizing just how poisonous Michelle Rhee's agenda is. But it's also been
a good week for StudentsFirst financially: The Walton Family
Foundation is donating $8 million over two years. Sorry, not
donating. "Investing."
Think about that for a minute. When
the Walmart heirs take a break from paying workers so little they qualify for
food stamps and refusing to pay Bangladeshi contractors enough to have fire
extinguishers in their factories, their philanthropic agenda is right in line
with the Michelle Rhee education policy agenda. This isn't a first, either; $8
million over two years represents an increase in the Walmart investment in
StudentsFirst, but the Waltons have already been a substantial source of money,
giving $3 million to StudentsFirst since late 2010. StudentsFirst is also only one of many
corporate education policy groups the Waltons have backed to the tune of $1
billion so far. Just what might a family whose vast wealth comes from low-wage
labor and fierce anti-unionism like so much about so-called education reform?
There's the obvious effort to bust teachers unions. But there's more than that.
As I wrote
last year:
