Today's
Palm Beach Post is reporting:
Dara Kam | March 6th, 2012
The controversial “Parent Empowerment” proposal isn’t just causing a
bipartisan kerfuffle in the Senate where critics say the measure is a cash cow for for-profit charter schools and private management companies.
But the “parent trigger” measure could also make hay for Gov. Jeb Bush’s non-profit Foundation for Florida’s Future. Bush is backing the bill, pushed by Los Angeles-based Parent Revolution and education reformer Michelle Rhee and fiercely opposed by a teachers’ unions and a Florida coalition of parent-led groups, including the PTA.
Patricia Levesque, executive director of Bush’s Foundation, sent out a blast e-mail asking supporters to contact their senators to urge them to vote for the bill. But that wasn’t all.
“Additionally, won’t you help us in our efforts to fight those opposed to parents’ rights? Please consider making a one-time contribution of $500 or $1,000 or a monthly contribution of $50 or $100 to the Foundation for Florida’s Future. With your support, we can ensure that parents have representation and more options as it relates to their child’s education,” Levesque wrote.
.....
Now, we learn that Jeb Bush is steering donations generated in this heated battle into his Foundation for Florida's Future through his relentless push to profitize our children's public education. And he is slamming this policy through the Florida Legislature with his "Parent Trigger" bill.
He calls it the
"Parent Empowerment" proposal.
Just like his brother. Up is down. War is peace. Destroy the village to save it. Freedom is slavery. Gutting the public school system is Parent Empowerment.
This whole "parent trigger" effort
originated in California:
.....When this was first tried in Compton, Calif., the effort was organized by a pro-charter school organization called Parent Revolution — a Los Angeles organization funded in part by the Walton Family Foundation rather than by local parents, and it severely divided the community.
In Florida, the effort is being pushed by pro-charter forces, including Parent Revolution and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which is run by former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has an unusual amount of influence in Florida education for an ex-governor.
In fact, the there is a coalition of parent organizations, led by the Florida PTA, that has been opposed to the bill. Why?
Because many parents see the parent trigger as a divisive measure that is more about converting traditional public schools into charter schools – which are often run by for-profit entities – than about finding authentic ways to improve education for kids.
This is the message that was sent out by Progress Florida to its supporters that twisted Ms. Levesque's knickers in a bunch:
“Anti-public school extremists in the Florida Senate are trying to pull a fast one, and we need your help right now,” the Progress Florida e-mail began. “So, if not parent groups, who is really behind this latest attack on public schools? According to Parents Across America “model legislation based on the Parent Trigger has been written and promoted by ALEC, the shadowy organization backed by the Koch brothers that has a radical right-wing agenda.” And who profits? Not parents and students. No, the ones who profit are unaccountable corporate charter school operators who aren’t held to the same standards as public schools and don’t necessarily have the best interests of students, parents or teachers at heart.
So, Ms. Levesque and Jeb Bush respond by callously using the public's concerns about the effects of this radical bill, to fund-raise for his Foundation, continuously whittling away at public education in Florida and
across the country.
This is a full frontal attack by Jeb Bush on what is left of public education in Florida, ramming this bill through the Legislature, and hastened by his GOP lackeys in the leadership.
We must stop this assault.
It was a mistaken assumption by those who ever believed we would be finished with Jeb Bush after he left office.
This radical ex-governor must be stripped of his cancerous influence over the quality of life in Florida. Not only have the people of Florida endured eight backbiting years of his ruthless rule, we continue to lurch downhill as a state because he absolutely has not and will not relinquish power over this GOP legislature since he left office in 2007.
What Jeb Bush is doing to public education is a screaming outrage. People all over this state are furious.
This "parent trigger" vote is going to happen on Friday.
