The Nonprofit Industrial Complex’s Role in Imposing Neoliberalism on Public Education

Click here to access article by Robert D. Skeels posted on The Wrong Kind of Green.

Taking neoliberalism as the modern term describing the “Washington Consensus” policies of deregulation, austerity, and privatization, we can best describe the current assault on public education as “neoliberal corporate education reform.” .... [Instead of focusing on major NGOs and non-profit foundations advancing this agenda,] we will focus on a single city. Perhaps because of its size, or its proximity to The Broad Foundation’s headquarters, Los Angeles has been one of the central fronts on which the neoliberal ideologues have waged their war on public education. Evidenced by the staggering amounts the ruling class spends on school board and related elections, the number of well funded NPICs working as a neoliberal axis, and the collusion of the corporate media, those in power see Los Angeles as a high value target. In a word, it is a microcosm of what is happening to education everywhere. 

After reporting what neoliberal agents are doing in Los Angeles, Skeels points to organizations that have demonstrated effective resistance.