Stealing From The Mouth of Public Education to Feed the Prison Industrial Complex

[marmar]

Published on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 by Institute for Policy Studies

Stealing From The Mouth of Public Education to Feed the Prison Industrial Complex
We are witnessing a systemic recasting of education priorities that gives official structure and permanence to a preexisting underclass comprised largely of criminalized poor black and brown people.

by Adwoa Masozi


States across the US are excising billions of dollars from their education budgets as if 22% of the population isn’t functionally illiterate.

According to the NAAL standards of the National Center for Education Statistics 68 million people are reading below basic levels. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that “nearly all states are spending less money (on education) than they spent in 2008 (after inflation), even though the cost of providing services will be higher.” On top of cutting 4 billion dollars from their budget, Texas has also eliminated state funding for pre-K programs that serve around 100,000 mostly at-risk children. North Carolina has cut nearly a half billion dollars from K-12 education resulting in an 80 percent loss for textbook funds and a 5 percent cut in support positions like guidance counselors and social workers among numerous other cuts. Decisions like these leave little reason to wonder why both those states are facing 27% drop out rates.

Closing public schools has so become the rage that the state of California has even produced a best practices guide on how to close and make them fit for turn-around. Why not promote a ‘best practices guide for keeping a school going’ instead? Why make these decisions when we know that a lack of education decreases access to quality (and legitimate) employment opportunities, increases the likelihood of encounters with the criminal (in)justice system, negatively impacts health outcomes, and altogether limits one’s ability to determine her or his own future?

What we’re witnessing is a systemic recasting of education priorities that gives official structure and permanence to a preexisting underclass comprised of largely criminalized poor black and brown people. Certainly having a prominent underclass isn’t new to the US as it has quite the track record of denying fill-in-the-blank people fill-in-the-blank rights. But the material outcomes of this shift are as communally and economically devastating as were the outcomes of the Black Codes in the 1800s and subsequent Jim Crow laws that persisted until 1965; both of which were legal, with implementation that varied from state to state and still impacts communities today. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/28-4

[xchrom]

1. indeed and it's infuriating.

but as long as the 'liberal' wing of the status quo does it -- it gets a pass.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[duhneece]

3. War on Drugs is filling those cells,

making profit for shareholders, sending $$ to campaigns for folks to pass laws like mandatory minimums, 3-strikes, etc.

[midnight]

4. It sure is.... Here in Wisconsin, after the exposure of ALEC, a connection

of this war on drugs legislation led by scott walker was revealed..

Here is a link to start with:Scott Walker and American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have long history:http://bdgrdemocracy.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/scott-walker-and-american-legislative-exchange-council-alec-have-long-history/

The following bills were authored by Walker in the 1997 session (the preceding link allows for a search by bill number):

AB740 – Prohibits Public Funding of Abortion

AB953 – Releases Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacists from liability for refusing on religious or creed beliefs, to provide services such as birth control, abortion, and end-of-life actions such as feeding or breathing tube removal.

AB441/SB46 – Justice Substitution – an almost exact version just recently passed the Joint Judiciary Committee.

AB634 – Authorizes the DOC to contract for privatized inmate services, including transport and incarceration, outside OR inside the state.

All the bills above are carbon copies of “model legislation” in the ALEC playbook. They also have (and had) powerful corporate money and influence in their development. The major power players in ALEC today:

[duhneece]

5. Interesting. Thanks nt

[yurbud]

6. and privatized prisons have an economic incentive to see that trend expand

[tclambert]

7. So you're FOR educating kids and AGAINST prisons? You snob.

(That's Santorum logic.)