The Business Plan to Liquidate Public Education?

By dianeravitch

November 30, 2014



“Reformers,” as we all know, want to raise standards and improve education. Or so they say. To reach their goals, they say our schools are failing, our economy and national security are at risk, and our educators are rotten apples. their propaganda war against public education is relentless and has the financial support of the U. S. Department of Education, the Gates Foundation, the far-right Walton Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Dell Foundation, the Arnold Foundation, the Helmsley Foundation, the Fisher Foundation, and many more.
“Reformers” close community public schools, fire teachers and principals, insist on tests that most students fail, and create constant disruption. Eventually the public realizes that they must choose a charter school or voucher school because there is no neighborhood school or its best students have been lured away by charters.
What’s going on?
Brett Dickerson explains that there is a carefully orchestrated plan to liquidate public education.
He writes:
“Plans are under way for investment corporations to execute the biggest conversion – some call it theft – of public schools property in U.S. history.
“That is not hyperbole. Investment bankers themselves estimate that their taking over public schools is going to result in hundreds of billions of dollars in profit, if they can pull it off….
“There are very clear plans being made for just such a thing.
“The plan has been and still is to execute the complete conversion or liquidation of public schools property built up at taxpayer expense for generations.
“It involves raiding pensions that have been hard-won from years of legislative work by teachers and their unions. I reported on ideas being floated in Oklahoma along these lines in this piece that I did for Red Dirt Report earlier this year.
“It will all be done through the control of legislatures that have been mostly compliant with lobbying efforts due to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that allowed huge corporate money, mostly unidentified, to flow into elections. The Andre Agassi Foundation is just one of many who have worked this angle for their own return on investment….
“Offer to buy out a profitable company that has little or no debt.
“Silence the work force by tricking them into thinking life will be better with the new owners.
“Once the purchase is complete, fire the workforce.
“Liquidate the pension fund.
“Liquidate the company for the cash value of its paid-for property.
“Leave the host community in financial ruins.”