AEA has killed the Alabama Charter School Law

All hope of charter schools being allowed in Alabama this year is dead.

Take it away Montgomery Advisor:

Last week the House Education Appropriations Committee voted 13-2 to indefinitely postpone a bill that would allow state and local school systems to start charter schools. On Wednesday, the Senate Finance and Taxation-Education Committee voted 13-4 to kill a Senate version of the legislation. The two committee votes effectively kill any chance of charter schools being used soon in Alabama.

Now I know that the Alabama Education Association came out against charter schools in Alabama. And I know that most of the people in Alabama, including parents, journalists and people who advocate for students for a living, came out for charter schools.

So this result surprised me. I decided to follow a hunch. I looked up each of the 15 members of the House Education Appropriations Committee that voted to kill the bill. Then I looked up who their top campaign contributors were.

The AEA was a top-five campaign contributor for eight members of the 13 members for which I could find info. Coincidence? Hardly. Follow the money. The House Education Appropriations Committee sure did.

Thanks, AEA, for buying our representatives. And thanks, House Education Appropriations Committee, for screwing Alabama’s public school children in order to keep the campaign contributions flowing.

Here’s where you can find the names of the members of the House Education Appropriations Committee.

Here’s where you can search for each member’s name to get who their top five campaign contributors were.

I haven’t looked at the senate yet, but I’m guessing I’ll find the same thing.

Anyone know where I can find out how each member voted?