“Pulling the Trigger”: The American Legislative Exchange Council and Parent Empowerment Legislation in Georgia

• In Event: Philanthropy and Charter School Practice and Policy: State-Based Case Studies

Abstract

Objectives

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a well funded nonpartisan membership organization of conservative state lawmakers, plays an active role in the privatization of public education through advocacy of model legislation, such as parent trigger acts. Trigger laws provide parents with the ability to initiate the process of turning around underperforming schools. While trigger laws provide parents with the power to initiate a change in school structure, local school boards retain the authority to make final decisions regarding the selection and implementation of the turnaround model. Trigger law proponents argue these laws engage parents, faculty and staff in dialogue about school reform. Opponents view the laws as providing charter school management organizations with a way to leverage support for the establishment of charter schools. This paper demonstrates how corporate funding is used to influence educational policy and to support efforts to privatize education.

Theoretical framework

The author uses Fligstein and McAdam’s (2011) theory of Strategic Action Fields (SAF), to show the competing networks of actors engaged in the trigger legislation movement in Georgia. This case presents an analysis of ALEC’s resources and network of philanthropic, non-profit, and corporate actors in influencing the initiation of trigger legislation, as well as those of state level actors working as challengers to the state education establishment. On the incumbent side, the paper examined the resources and coalition of actors opposed to the proposed legislation.

Methods and data sources
This qualitative case study used documents including ALEC initiated model legislation, online resources related to ALEC’s network of philanthropic, corporate, and non-profit actors, as well as policy briefs and news media articles produced to persuade policymakers and the public to embrace trigger legislation. Philanthropic funding data from Foundation Center Online for both challengers and incumbents was analyzed to determine the resource levels of these networks.

Results
Findings suggest ALEC has impacted the privatization of education through an extensive network of legislative membership, as well as significant corporate funding. In Georgia’s trigger law legislation, legislators who are active ALEC members used its model legislation within the 2013 legislative session to further the development of charter schools in the state. When not able to get necessary support, the legislation was pulled from action. Georgia joined Colorado and Oklahoma in failing to pass 2013 trigger laws with opposition in all three states from parents and the education community. The study suggests that although challengers such as ALEC and its network is heavily funded, incumbents within the education community are able to influence the state legislature to at least delay passing this form of legislation.

Significance

This case study illustrates the ways organizations such as ALEC are able to leverage resources and networks to influence legislation creating favorable climates for the establishment of charter schools and school turn around options. This case study provides a mechanism to understand in detail how organizations, such as ALEC, work with state-level policymakers and coalitions of challengers within the state to further their public education agendas.

Author

• Jamie B. Lewis, Georgia Gwinnett College