FREEDOMWORKS THROWS 30,000 KIDS UNDER THE BUS The Real Story behind the Failure of the School

Choice Bill - SB1 June 30, 2011 -- Sharon Cherubin, UNITEPA & The Grassroots Coalition for Real School Choice Lancaster, Pa -- The burning question today on every parent's mind in Pennsylvania is -- "What happened to school choice and the promise that Governor Corbett made to the Commonwealth?". SB1 is what happened - not school choice. SB1 was never about school choice nor was it about creating a road map in education reform for the children of Pennsylvania. SB1 was used to seduce the public into believing that "every child" would have the same opportunity - when our politicians knew that the end result would have been another entitlement program, leaving thousands of low-middle income children behind. Their school choice message was confusing and lacked any sense of clarity. At the helm of SB1 stood the self appointed national lobbying firm, FreedomWorks, lead by Dick Armey, former House Majority Leader and US Congressman. FreedomWorks launched a full blown campaign with printed SB1 backpacks, stickers, yard signs, t-shirts and other paraphernalia prior to the bill even being available to the public. It was quite a display of arrogance and misjudgement on their part. They waltzed into town with a financial arsenal that no tea party organization could match -- spending thousands, if not millions of dollars on their self-serving publicity stunt. Yet with all of their clout, SB1 was a total cluster and failed miserably. The School Choice debate was intense at times due to the tactics used by FreedomWorks and Dick Armey's decision to pick Pennsylvania as the next state on their campaign hit list. Ironically, they even squelched the voices of the sponsors of SB1 by overpowering their school choice message with a FreedomWorks message of -- "do as I say or else". Many state Senators were not accustomed to being bullied by National Lobbying groups to the extent of having the threat of mass ad campaigns launched against them. Even the SB1 panels organized by FreedomWorks were one sided and were more of an SB1 marketing pitch than an open discussion. They used naive' grassroots groups as props to give the illusion that the Conservative Movement was on board with SB1. FreedomWorks hoped that having these leaders support would give the bill grass-roots credibility, according to an article published in the New York Times, 6/29/11. Their strategy backfired when they were flanked by Conservative activists that organized to stop this entitlement voucher bill and lobby for academic freedom for ALL children in Pennsylvania. FreedomWorks was completely satisfied with "throwing 30,000 children under the bus". SB1 would have left behind thousands of low-middle income children in failing schools with little hope of being able to escape our deteriorating education system. It is an atrocity that a National organization would take such a stance to push legislation that would actually harm thousands of children. Every family has different needs and every child's needs are different. FreedomWorks claims, according to a statement on their website, that "Pennsylvania parents should have the power and opportunity to choose their childs school and reap the benefits of free-market competition". Yet, this sentiment was not reflected anywhere in SB1. In response to the lack of leadership and clarity on school choice, UNITEPA and the Independence Hall Tea Party Association formed the Grassroots Coalition for Real School Choice, comprised of 22 grassroots organizations. Because of their commitment to REAL school choice and their persistence, new legislation was drafted by Representative Curt Schroder that would rescue ALL children in failing schools and alternatively empower ALL children in every school with choice. Schroder's bills are equitable, principled and fair, unlike the blundered SB1 bill which ironically helped pave the way for true academic freedom because it was such a failure. We all know that the Pennsylvania School system requires reform. We know our schools are failing. Kids are being tormented, bullied or worse in our public schools. So if FreedomWorks would have just listened to the real grassroots citizens and sat down at the table, we might have REAL School Choice today. They

invested their donors monies so much into SB1 that they could not afford to pull back and see the forest for the trees. FreedomWorks plowed their way into the school choice conversation without doing their homework or consulting with those on the ground. They simply used their old playbook which worked in other states. When National Lobbying groups try to commandeer the movement, it is felt across the entire grassroots network. The grassroots does not like being bullied or pigeon holed into a particular issue without an honest debate. Here, the debate was silenced, the lies ensued and FreedomWorks did more damage than good. The Coalition will be attending education hearings over the summer and will be back in the fall, fighting for all of the children of this Commonwealth. We can only hope that our legislators are wise enough to push back the overbearing lobbyists and teacher's unions and do the right thing for ALL of the children in Pennsylvania.

Sharon Cherubin Executive Director UNITEPA www.unitepa.org In God We Trust!