Parents and educators share a "sense of urgency" when it comes to improving schools and providing the best education possible for children, says AFT President Randi Weingarten. But teachers and their unions are part of the solution, not the problem, despite what the soon-to-be-released film, “Won’t Back Down,” says.

Weingarten rebutted the portrayal of teachers and teachers’ unions in “Won’t Back Down.” She writes:

Many people who see this film will be moved by the story and will feel this same sense of urgency. But the film uses blatant stereotypes and caricatures to blame teachers and their unions for all of the problems facing our schools. These stereotypes and caricatures are even worse than those in “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”

Thirteen more Texas legislators, including 10 Republicans, have severed their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Earlier this year, another dozen Lone Star State lawmakers said goodbye to ALEC. Matt Glazer, executive director of Progress Texas, the group that has helped expose ALEC’s influence in the state legislature, says:

These legislators have shown the courage of their convictions by standing up to a corporate bill factory and declaring their support for the people of Texas above all else. 

A second Wisconsin judge has found that the state's voter ID restriction—built on a template from the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—creates a “substantial impairment of the right to vote” and violates the state’s constitution.  

Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan wrote the law:

tells more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not now have an acceptable form of photo identification that they cannot vote.

Five more major corporations severed their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Their exit brings the number of big corporations to 25—plus four major non-profit groups and 55 lawmakers—that have recently left ALEC and its agenda of voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing. The five latest companies, according to Reuters, are Hewlett-Packard, CVS Caremark, Deere & Co., MillerCoors and Best Buy.

A recent report dismantles claims by private prison industry and its backers—including the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—that private prisons are a better deal than publicly run facilities. The report also explores the influence private prison companies exert over criminal justice policymaking and the industry’s overall lack of transparency. Two of ALEC’s major sponsors are Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Security), the largest private prison firms in the country.

For those of us keeping score, 19 major corporations and 54 state legislators have cut their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Now pressure is mounting for other major corporations to join the exodus from ALEC and its agenda of voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing.

WI

Why should Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) lose his job in next week’s recall election against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett? Here are 11 good reasons:

1. Scott Walker eliminated the collective bargaining rights of 380,000 public employees.
2. Scott Walker has led Wisconsin to last place in the nation in job creation.
3. Scott Walker has disenfranchised tens of thousands of young voters, senior citizens and minority voters with voter suppression and voter ID laws.

Two other big corporations—including Amazon—and several state lawmakers are the latest to sever their ties with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), as the group’s influence and radical agenda—one that includes voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing—is further exposed.

A new report reveals the “extraordinary influence” the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has had in the Wisconsin legislature during the past 16 months—the same 16 months since Gov. Scott Walker (R) took power. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which released the report, says ALEC's influence:

undermines the rights of Wisconsin families while advancing the agenda of huge corporations.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed her pet project of "personnel reform" into law Friday, claiming it will "modernize the state's personnel system" and make state employees "more accountable and efficient, more competitive and productive." In a nutshell: All new state workers in Arizona will have no civil service protections and those on the job now are being offered a small raise to give up their protection. Public-sector workers put up vigorous opposition to the move, saying it will lead to hiring and firing based on politics and favoritism. Even conservative Arizona Republic columnist Robert Robb expressed reservations about it, warning of "potentially dangerous consequences" to turning civil servants performing crucial public functions into at-will employees.