Commentary: This morning, the Albuquerque Journal (and several news stations) printed an intentionally misleading story on AFT’s relationship with Pearson – you can read the story HERE.
As with most articles in the Journal, it is incomplete, and doesn’t reflect the true story.
See the below responses from:
AFT President Randi Weingarten said: “This resolution is about creating a better, more economically sustainable firm that works to advance public education in a spirit of collaboration.”
And,
AFT New Mexico President Stephanie Ly said: “We would hope the Public Education Department would focus on working to promote high-quality public education in New Mexico instead of cheaply attacking an organization like the AFT and AFT New Mexico, which have been champions of high-quality public education for New Mexico’s students and communities."
You can read the full release below:
AFT, AFT New Mexico respond to Albuquerque Journal story on Pearson
WASHINGTON— For several years, the American Federation of Teachers has tried to change Pearson’s business practices with little success. This year, we embarked on a new approach—the AFT and our affiliates decided to use our activist shareholder voice to promote change from within.
Our affiliates’ pension funds, including the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, are universal owners—along with several United Kingdom allies—of international Pearson stock from an index on the London Stock Exchange. And approximately 100 individuals associated with the AFT each purchased one Pearson share to increase our strategic leverage over the firm.
With Pearson continuing to roll out unpopular high-stakes tests, we have chosen to use the power that comes from our stake in the global pension system to work to change the firm to better serve our kids. That’s why the AFT and a trans-Atlantic alliance of pension funds are supporting a shareholder resolutionto tell Pearson to conduct a business review to re-evaluate its commitment to tests like PARCC and its backing of school privatization in the developing world.
Meanwhile, on the ground, our members have worked to demand that Pearson abandon policies such as “gag orders” around standardized tests—an issue that currently is being challenged in New Mexico courts.
In January, Pearson ordered 4,000 job cuts (10 percent of the company’s workforce) across its worldwide operation, after a serious misreading of the U.S. educational landscape forced a new round of cost containment. After its share price fell 40 percent in the last half of 2015, a January “business review” was criticized by analysts from Liberum Capital, Panmure Gordon, Kepler Cheuvreux, Macquarie, Barclays and Credit Suisse.
AFT President Randi Weingarten said: “This resolution is about creating a better, more economically sustainable firm that works to advance public education in a spirit of collaboration.”
AFT New Mexico President Stephanie Ly said: “We would hope the Public Education Department would focus on working to promote high-quality public education in New Mexico instead of cheaply attacking an organization like the AFT and AFT New Mexico, which have been champions of high-quality public education for New Mexico’s students and communities.”
Thank you to the many AFT NM members who are speaking up and speaking out against the Journal’s half-truths every day – together we are changing the narrative around public education in New Mexico and the PED’s desperate attempts to distract the public from the very real failures of the Department, and this article is only one of many to come.
Thank you for your advocacy each and every day –
In Solidarity,
Stephanie