Teaching Trump's "Informed Patriotism," curriculum that bypasses school boards, and Billionaire Privateers pursue Profits through taxpayer funding! What could go wrong...?

Tennessee public schools, like Wisconsin and every other state, are seeing big money donors finally getting privatization passed thanks to the midterm elections donations. 

Seeing an opening created by parent frustration over pandemic school closings and the totally fabricated critical race theory controversy, privatization lobbyists are going to succeed in removing local control and school board control to teach whatever they want. 

It’s called “school choice,” a choice decided by billionaire donors trying to profit from the massive amount of taxpayer money sent to schools.  

#1 Story: Informed Patriotism-Trump Style: Newschannel5 has done an amazing job exposing what busy parents haven’t had time to investigate for themselves. Is this really what they want?

WTVF: If Gov. Bill Lee gets his way, Tennessee will become a major player in a network of taxpayer-funded charter schools set up by a Michigan college with close ties to former President Donald Trump. Hillsdale’s “1776 Curriculum” shows how it wants schools to teach civics. It relies on the 1776 Commission appointed by Trump to develop a “patriotic education” for the nation’s schools. Lee calls Hillsdale College’s approach to teaching civics “informed patriotism.”

The students are the ambassadors, some as young as seven. “This is an opportunity to put those kids on display and allow us to see all the great things that are happening in the schools,” said Maya Bugg with the Tennessee Charter School Center. The children’s faces serve as faces for a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort, although the people leading those campaigns don’t always like to call it that.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Maya Bugg, Tennessee School Charter Center, “Who is funding this lobbying effort?”

Bugg: “Which lobbying effort?”

NewsChannel 5: “For charter schools.”

Bugg replied, “So we are a non-profit — so minimal effort is put into lobbying. We do a lot of education. We educate legislators about the issues.”

The truth is the Tennessee School Charter Center employs a big firm that calls itself “Tennessee’s Lobbying Powerhouse.” They received funding from billionaire Bill Gates and the Walton family of Walmart fame. So far, NewsChannel 5 has counted at least 61 registered lobbyists on the school privatization side, compared to just 17 lobbying for traditional public schools.

A former liberal radio talk host who likes to ask the “follow-up question” at Democurmudgeon.blogspot.com