Exploding the myth, “The business model will improve education”

by David Safier

On our cable access show, "Education: The Rest of the Story," Ann-Eve Pedersen addresses the myth that the education will be improved if schools adopt the for-profit business model. Ann-Eve's research uncovered the BASIS application for a San Antonio, Texas, charter with 72 blacked-out pages I posted about recently (BASIS Charters' educational trade secrets). She goes into the for-profit nature of the BASIS model in this segment, bringing in the blacked-out application pages, the Goldwater Institute (G.I.'s Clint Bolick sits on the BASIS board) and recent legislation increasing BASIS's competitive advantage in Arizona.

I'll be spotlighting the three other segments in this month's show in later posts, but if you want to see them now, here they are: Drive-by teaching at charter schools (charter teachers last an average of 3-5 years); The Anti-test protest Movement (parents are joining teachers and academics in protesting high stakes testing); and our "Unbelievable!" segment, The Doubling of private school tuition tax credits."