Corporate special interests get their way not only by spending big to buy off legislators, but by working to influence public opinion behind the scenes.
On Saturday, the Austin American-Statesman published an education op-ed by Sandy Kress. Kress offered an impassioned argument in favor of neoliberal education policy, starting with a defense of the use of high-stakes standardized testing.
But what the op-ed did not see fit to mention was Kress’s own lobbying work on behalf of testing companies and other education interests. Here’s some education-related interests that Kress works for as a lobbyist. This data is drawn from the Texas Ethics Commission:
Edvance Research Inc. 9901 IH-10 West, Suite 1000 San Antonio, TX 78230 Type of Compensation: Prospective Less Than $10,000.00 Client Start Date: 01/20/2012 Client Term Date: 02/09/2012 Pearson Education 1 Lake Street Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Type of Compensation: Prospective $50,000 - $99,999.99 Client Start Date: 01/20/2012 Client Term Date: 12/31/2012 Teach For America 315 West 36th Street, 7th Floor New York, NY 10018 Type of Compensation: Prospective $10,000 - $24,999.99 Client Start Date: 01/20/2012 Client Term Date: 12/31/2012
The paper should make every effort to disclose these lobbying ties any time Kress writes an op-ed related to education policy.
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