If the former DC schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee intends to reform education, the last people she would be aligning herself with would be governors Scott Walker and Tom Corbett, right?  Yet that is exactly who she will be speaking along side at The American Federation for Children Annual Policy Conference, Monday May 9th, in Washington D.C.

The AFC is a group founded by a small core of wealthy conservatives dedicated to the dismantling of public education.  AFC and its partners have contributed millions of dollars to anti-public education movements in states across the nation, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  It is no surprise to see people such as Betsy DeVos (sister of Eric Prince of Blackwater) crusading and fundraising millions of dollars supporting the AFC’s goal to privatize education.

Former Chancellor Michelle Rhee will be speaking at the AFC event with Governor Walker who recently proposed an $835 million cut in aid to public schools.  What could the two possibly have in common?  Well, money of course.  In order to profit from education you must first privatize it.

The first step to the privatization of education is through expanding voucher programs that provide families with government funded certificates to offset the cost of private school tuition.  These vouchers take away valuable resources from public schools that are already at their financial breaking point.

Walker is proposing the removal of enrollment caps and income restrictions on the current voucher programs. These policies would starve public schools and give the wealthiest households a tax credit for sending their children to the private schools they are already attending.  A $1500 annual voucher will be one of many tax credits for the rich and won’t begin to cover a years worth of private tuition for a low-income household.

Michelle Rhee may also be looking for allies after her reputation suffered a major setback when USA Today, in a lengthy investigation featuring a dozen reporters, discovered an inexplicable test erasure rate in more than half of the District’s public schools.

Rhee and Walker also have a shared distaste for teacher unions.  Rhee has preached the gospel of unions only fighting for increased paychecks and benefits, while Walker has gone so far as to strip the collective bargaining rights and silence the voices of most public workers.  Teacher unions have long advocated for small classroom size, highly qualified and certified teachers, and rigorous standards and benchmarks.

So what could the future of privatized education without union representation look like?  An environment of diminished transparency, decreased regulations, and curricula built by big business ideology.  Our country’s ever increasing income disparities will continue to grow further apart. The economic and social costs for individuals and communities will be felt across the nation.  But for the winners in this selfish and self-serving strategy, that’s not enough. Walker and Rhee aim to put the final dagger into our public schools.

The stakes in this battle are enormous. The public schools in America are the very fabric of our democracy. What will happen to our freedoms if they are allowed to wither and die?  What are we leaving behind for future generations?