Friday, December 9, 2011

Is integrity the price of virtual education?


How much simpler it would be if political campaigns were not fouled by secret corporate contributions cloaked as public interest groups doing advertising on behalf of candidates.

How much different our lives would be if newly minted elected officials arrived on the job beholden to no one but voters.

Today the voice of money in politics doesn't just talk, it roars. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court gave money an even bigger voice when it ruled that corporations are people and cannot be prohibited from financing political advertising because that would violate their free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The decision has created an atmosphere in which politicians don't apologize for accepting corporate largesse, though they may slyly demur as some Republican contenders for president did this week when invited to a debate financed by real estate magnate and wannabe kingmaker Donald Trump.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna isn't apologizing either for his 2010 campaign being the beneficiary of $44,000 from K12 Inc., the largest company in the nation that sets up virtual schools and online classes. Of the total, $25,000 was used by an independent group for advertising supporting Luna's election.

K12 also contributed $5,000 to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter in 2010.

A Luna spokesman insists that the support from K12 has had no influence on Luna's education policies in the state. During his campaign, Luna never disclosed his support for online instruction. Yet, immediately after the election and with Otter's support, he successfully pushed to replace some classes with online instruction even though there is only scant and conflicting data to demonstrate its efficacy.

One thing is for sure, however—computers are cheaper than flesh-and-blood teachers, a fact dear to the hearts of tax- and budget-cutters of every ilk.

Luna acknowledges that he associates with the owners of K12's largest shareholder, a company owned by brothers Michael and Lowell Milken. Michael made a fortune in junk bonds in the 1980s and was convicted of securities fraud, a felony.

A state's chief education officer should be well-schooled in new developments in education. But when vendors of products and services like virtual classrooms contribute to the chief's political campaign as K12 did, it muddies the waters.

It may be too much to expect political candidates to know the meaning of the word "integrity," let alone to exercise it. However, anyone who would serve the public well should not accept donations of any kind from companies looking to get or renew contracts for goods or services with the state agency they may control.

Luna should be ashamed.




About Comments

Comments with content that seeks to incite or inflame may be removed.

Comments that are in ALL CAPS may be removed.

Comments that are off-topic or that include profanity or personal attacks, libelous or other inappropriate material may be removed from the site. Entries that are unsigned or contain signatures by someone other than the actual author may be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or any other policies governing this site. Use of this system denotes full acceptance of these conditions. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing, Inc.

You may flag individual comments. You may also report an inappropriate or offensive comment by clicking here.

Flagging Comments: Flagging a comment tells a site administrator that a comment is inappropriate. You can find the flag option by pointing the mouse over the comment and clicking the 'Flag' link.

Flagging a comment is only counted once per person, and you won't need to do it multiple times.

Proper Flagging Guidelines: Every site has a different commenting policy - be sure to review the policy for this site before flagging comments. In general these types of comments should be flagged:

  • Spam
  • Ones violating this site's commenting policy
  • Clearly unrelated
  • Personal attacks on others
Comments should not be flagged for:
  • Disagreeing with the content
  • Being in a dispute with the commenter

Popular Comment Threads



 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.