Massachusetts Parents United claims to be “the independent voice of parents.” But it’s entirely dependent on funding from the Walton Family’s (tax deductible) political operations. When I wrote Massachusetts Parents United: Old Wine in an Empty Bottle in July 2017 there were some clues about its funding but not much detail, and what detail there…
Keri Rodrigues Goes Coastal with Plans for National Parents Union
Keri Rodrigues of Massachusetts Parents United, the highly subsidized-by-the-Walton-family front in the education privatization business, is pitching a new organization called the National Parents Union. It’s got elements that should appeal to the WalMart heirs – hidden money, infiltration of the Democratic Party, pro-charters, privatization of public goods, and virulently anti-union. But there are problems….
UnKoch* My Boston Globe
It appears that our once-upon-a-time paper of record The Boston Globe is supplementing revenues by publishing pro-corporate content masquerading as news and paid for by the Koch Brothers. Since corporate puffery isn’t one of my favored literary genres I didn’t pay much attention when I noticed the Bold Types interviews off to the side of…
The Plight of Progressives in the Bernie Sanders Era
Being a politically progressive college professor who isn’t a passenger on the Bernie Sanders Express can be uncomfortable at times. Lucky for me, I’m a political science professor, which means that I have plenty of scholarly company, particularly among my fellow political scientists who study American politics. The reason for the disparity is, in my…
“Education Reform by WalMart”?
“Education Reform by WalMart” isn’t going to win any awards for marketing slogans so instead the Waltons weaponize their philanthropic dollars by underwriting fronts like Massachusetts Parents United, Educators for Excellence, and Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts. Here are the latest dollar figures. How about $500,000 to Massachusetts Parents United? Remember their creation story, where…
Japan Dispatches: Thoughts on Public Transportation in the Commonwealth
On Thursday morning, I woke to find a friend and colleague had posted a story on my Facebook timeline about the efficacy of trains versus cars in response to a blog post I had made questioning Massachusetts’s investment in SouthCoast rail. It was the unicorn of all Facebook debates—respectful disagreement accompanied by the infusion of…
DFER Massachusetts’ Policy Luncheon: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain!
Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts had a policy conference Wednesday to tout a report it did comparing schools in Boston and Lawrence. It’s a great case study on how wealthy philanthrocapitalists are able to set the agenda on issues. It was timely too because in the morning I was re-reading a book chapter by Aaron…
MassFiscal Makes the Boston Globe’s Hypocrites Hall of Fame
The honors keep rolling in for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance which was named today to the Boston Globe’s Hypocrite’s Hall of Fame. It’s not as prestigious as MassFiscal’s Award for Fraud in Massachusetts Politics in 2015, but it shows MFA is still on the bottom of its game. The Globe editorial board took notice when…
Waltons Well Represented at FBRC Hearing
The political capacity for pretending something is what it is not amazes. Take yesterday’s FBRC hearing. Families for Excellent Schools would have been there but for it collapsing in corruption but FES’s funders, especially the Walton family of WalMart bucks were well represented by fronts like Massachusetts Parents United, Democrats for Education Reform, Stand for…
The Pioneer Institute, the Kochs, and Voter Disenfranchisement in Massachusetts
Last Monday in CommonwealthMagazine the Pioneer Institute proposed Massachusetts Tie state funding to school committee seats, partially disenfranchising poor and minority communities. I critiqued the proposal as The Beamer vs. Beater Theory of Democracy. If you’re driving a Beamer you get full voting rights. If you’re driving a beater the state takes away your right…