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ALEC News

Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School 270 Op-ed by Rep. Chris Taylor On the heels of a newly passed state budget that again leaves our K-12 public schools behind without ample and consistent funding, I recently headed back to where the school privatization push all began--the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. ALEC and its members, including the American Federation for Children (AFC), have become more powerful than our citizens’ voices at the State Capitol. Despite massive public urging from Wisconsin school superintendents, principals, teachers, parents and students for consistent and adequate K-12 public education funding, Republicans legislators chose to dump more money into an unaccountable private voucher school system. Since Republicans took over our state Capitol in 2011, they have cut $1.2 billion from public K-12 education. Under this latest budget, 55 percent of school districts will get less general student aid than they did last budget cycle and Wisconsin is spending $1,014 less per public school student than it did in 2008. Read the rest of this item here. Shell Parts Ways with ALEC over Climate Change, Exodus at 106 Royal Dutch Shell announced Friday that it planned to let its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lapse early next year, explicitly citing the organization's stance on climate change. The last oil company to cut ties with ALEC was BP in March 2015. In a statement, a Shell spokesperson said, "ALEC advocates for specific economic growth initiatives, but its stance on climate change is clearly inconsistent with our own." The decision will make Shell the 105th corporation to cut ties with ALEC. Read the rest of this item here. Blowing the Whistle on ALEC's Little Brother ACCE By Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata 270 It’s true. I plopped down my $50 and became a member of ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), dedicated to the three principles of limited government, free markets, and federalism. This is the basis of a right-wing movement in America to repeal existing government legislation that promotes social justice and economic equity, and stop any future such legislation. “The goal of ALEC is to foster efficient, effective, accountable and transparent government that respects hardworking people.” I was intrigued by how such commonly shared goals could lead to such divergent paths toward a more democratic America. Read the rest of this item here. Scott Walker Is the Belle of the ALEC Ball By Rep. Chris Taylor (D-WI) Wisconsin has become the new ALEC darling, and took center stage on the second day of the 42nd ALEC conference. It is easy to see why. Since the 2010 Tea Party takeover of our state, a deluge of ALEC model bills have become law, from policies to privatize public education to the hallmark, anti-worker package of laws that launched Scott Walker into the national spotlight and now provides his basis for running for president. And then there is ALEC golden boy Scott Walker, the keynote morning speaker at the morning breakfast. Read the rest of this item here.