The OPSRC, AFC, and OFC - Illegal Campaign Donations?

   I've analogized our Oklahoma public school system to "the world's greatest man-made natural disaster" - the Dust Bowl of the 1920's and 1930's, for good reason. Many historians believe the Dust Bowl in early Oklahoma was not man-made at all, but corporate-made. The facts are - The Dust Bowl of Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico was created by "suitcase farmers" from the east coast. A "Suitcase Farmer" was the name given to "corporate farming entities" from outside Oklahoma, which swooped in on the wings of generous federal tax subsidies (the Wicked Witch of the East). These suitcase farmers did not farm our land at all, but simply unpacked suitcases in hotel rooms, and directed the devastation of our farmland from there - hence the name. When local farmers and ranchers spoke out to to the state government about the pillaging of our top-soil by suitcase farmers, the locals found out very quickly that many state legislators were on the side of the corporate pillagers. One pillager even responded to local farmers that he "does not farm suitcases, but wheat", implying that local farmer and ranchers are ignorant buffoons. My own great-grandfather, Virgil Beckham, was killed in a farming accident (1933) as a result of the Dust Bowl. Some locals say he was murdered, so I'm still quite angry, but I digress... 
   Of course all Oklahomans know what happened to our farmland as a result of the corporate raiding and pillaging - it was destroyed or passed over Washington D.C. on its way to the Pacific Ocean.
   In many Oklahomans' opinion, what is happening in Oklahoma public schools is parallel to what occurred during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. Just as our farm and ranch land was pillaged and ultimately destroyed by corporate suitcase farmers from the east coast with the help of State and Federal Legislators - Our local public schools are being pillaged and will ultimately be destroyed by corporate public educators with the help of corporate state Legislators and Federal officials such as Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education. Our own State Legislature and the Federal Government have provided massive state tax breaks and Federal subsidies to out-of-state corporate schools in order to "take-over" our local public schools.
   The corporate scheme for taking over our public schools is evidenced in one Latimer County  example. EPIC Virtual Charter School is a notorious corporate public school which saw a profit opportunity in "taking over" Panola Public Schools. Panola was losing students because the invalid and unreliable corporate school grading system had awarded it a "low" grade. The school was in danger of collapse, and the board and superintendent saw no way to keep it from consolidating with other public schools around it. Enter EPIC... EPIC Virtual Charter School executives allegedly told the board and superintendent that they (EPIC) could keep Panola open for business, if Panola would only give them the keys to the school. Panola officials readily agreed to turn their school over to EPIC as they did not want their school to be consolidated or dissolved... at any price.
   Panola Public Schools (EPIC Corporate) has now begun recruiting students from across the state by offering parents $800 per enrolled student. Parents are supposed to use the money for school supplies, but many parents use the funds for things like private dance lessons or field trips (vacations). One must bear in mind that EPIC Virtual Charter School is a corporation in that it has stock-holders which only care about profits, not students. If the school does not turn a profit, the new CEO (superintendent) will lose his job, and the real CEO could be in trouble with his board of directors (not school board).
   The CEO (superintendent) of EPIC is David Chaney,who is paid an unknown salary, since EPIC is considered a "private" company by Corporate Legislators such as Senator Gary Stanislawski. Stanislawski laments that "when the government (referring to himself) pays a private company to do a job, they don't ask how much everyone is getting paid, or how much the materials for the job are going to cost". In other words, 'Stan the Man' Stanislawski doesn't care how much $$$$$$$ Chaney makes, only that Chaney continues Stanislawski's campaign donations. I'd be willing to bet Stanislawski's constituents would like to know how much $$$$$$ EPIC gave Stanislawski to "write the charter school laws", which he did. Again, I digress...
   In 2015, K-12 CEO Nathaniel Davis (another Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Corporation) made $5.3 million at the tax payers expense. David Chaney's paycheck from tax-payers in several states must be in the ballpark with the K-12 CEO! The conservative Oklahomans I know are not OK with this! Many Corporate Oklahomans, however, believe it is just fine.
   Other than the Corporate and virtual charter schools, another Oklahoma public school Corporate Raider is the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center (OPSRC), led by Brent Bushey, who is a documented raider on his own. Bushey is employed by the Walton Family Foundation, the non-profit (for profit) arm for Wal-Mart. Conservative Oklahomans know that Wal-Mart and other corporate retailers enter a community and promptly run local businesses such as grocery stores, hardware stores, and pharmacies out of town. It's what they do! But, once again, I digress...
   The OPSRC set up shop three years ago in Oklahoma in order to capture the rural public school market. The public school market in Oklahoma seemed to be "ripe for picking" by Corporate Tomb Raiders, er uh.. Public School Raiders (PSR) such as the OPSRC (Oklahoma Public School Raiding Council). Just as Wal-Mart is a member of the Oklahoma Local Business Raider Center (OLBRC), Brent Bushey and all Corporate Virtual Charter Schools are members of the OPSRC, along with a few rural public schools. With the exceptions of Panola and ???, the public school members of the OPSRC are unknown. I guess ??? is also unknown...
   Billionaire Corporate Raider Betsy DeVos recently sent $16.5 million to Brent Bushey in order to start 25 more Corporate Charter Schools in Oklahoma. Bushey will reportedly use the money to buy 25 public schools from the State Board of Education. Although the Oklahoma State Board of Education doesn't own a single public school, it believes it owns all public schools, so has a right to sell any and all. Brent Bushey has been a regular visitor at the Oklahoma State Department of Education where he normally begs for corporate welfare checks. The welfare checks received by Mr. Bushey have totaled more than $60 million so far this year, which he has forwarded to his Corporate Cronies. Conservative Oklahomans should be aghast at this blatant waste of taxpayer dollars...
   Corporate Welfare Legislators (CWL) such as Senator Stanislawski (R) are hard to identify because they often tell their constituents they are conservative. As we've seen in the past, the cloak was pulled back on several Corporatists, disguised as conservative, when they were convicted of sex crimes or kicked out of the Oklahoma Legislature for mis-appropriating Oklahoma tax dollars. You all remember the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in a previous Blog Post...
   The Oklahoma Public School Raiding Council (OPSRC) is a Charter member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate group which buys state legislators from across the nation. At its annual conference, usually held in resort cities, corporations provide state legislative members lucrative campaign donations (in order to coax them into introducing favorable corporate legislation). The question many Oklahomans and public services (Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Department of Corrections, Oklahoma State Department of Education, and state health agencies, et al) have now is "If it is illegal for public service agencies to donate money to state lawmakers... and groups such as the OPSRC, the American Federation for Children (AFC), and the Oklahoma Federation for Children (OFC) claim to be public groups (they acquire public funds)... Then why aren't corporate state legislators being prosecuted for accepting campaign donations from these groups?" A few investigations could reveal the truth about illegal corporate dark money...
   I'll continue this post later...