Textbook publishers and computer manufacturers aren’t the only ones making big money off Common Core. (See Textbook Executive: “Common Core’s All About the Money.") There’s a plethora of "non-profits” whose chairmen, presidents, and CEO’s have been raking in millions in personal compensation to promote Common Core.
Here’s some information on two of those local non-profits: Expect More Arizona and its major funder Helios Education Foundation, which operates in Arizona and Florida.
Expect More Arizona has been pitching Common Core since 2009, around the same time that the Arizona State Board of Education was advised by Gov. Jan Brewer to apply for Race to the Top funding.
The Chairman of Expect More is Paul Luna. Paul Luna is also the President and CEO of Helios Education Foundation.
Helios is listed as a major funder of Expect More Arizona, contributing at least $500,000.
Ms. Pearl Chang Esau was selected as the President and CEO of Expect More Arizona in 2011 by the Executive Committee, headed by Paul Luna.
According to its latest 990 report, Expect More Arizona reported revenues of $1,113,957, of which the vast majority, $802,143, went toward salaries, compensation, and benefits. Naturally, Ms. Pearl Chang Esau is the most highly compensated employee.
According to Helios’s 990 filed for 2012, Paul Luna received nearly $500,000 in compensation and benefits.
Promoting Common Core and AZ Merit isn’t Expect More Arizona’s only activity. These fat cats also denigrate and ridicule parents, grandparents, and other concerned citizens who oppose Common Core. They also repeat the chant that the opposition is "politicizing" the issue.
See how Expect More Arizona depicts Common Core in this “debate” video they created, using actors. (Naturally, the person opposed to Common Core is an angry, old white guy.) In the video the old white guy is finally "won over" and asserts that "the Standards don’t tell teachers what curriculum to teach or what textbooks to use."
While Expect More dishes out ridicule upon us, we receive no compensation for thousands of hours of hard work, research, effort, and travel. Teachers are afraid to speak out against Common Core, because they risk losing their jobs.
See Also:
The National Common Core Standards System.
Textbook Executive: “Common Core’s All About the Money."
Common Core’s standards are substandard and age-inappropriate.