Welcome to Cashing in on Kids, a weekly email newsletter for people fed up with the privatization of America’s public schools—produced by In the Public Interest.

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Public schools lose over $2 billion a year to corporate tax breaks. According to Good Jobs First, economic development tax abatements given to corporations cost public school districts $2.37 billion in foregone revenue in fiscal year 2019. That’s an increase of 13 percent—a $273 million jump—from just two years earlier and came during the pre-pandemic period of economic prosperity. Good Jobs First

And now the rest of the week’s news…

Rhode Island dark money. Maurice Cunningham on new dark money pouring into Rhode Island: “What we see here is quite common, a front purporting to be parents but actually funded and acting for wealthy privatization interests.” MassPoliticsProfs

“This is just another slap in the face to our teachers.” Kentucky lawmakers have voted to override a veto by Gov. Andy Beshear of a bill allowing tax credits to pay for private school tuition. WHAS 11

All the money behind standardized testing. Gayle Greene, professor of English at Scripps College, digs into the money behind Education Trust, a think tank that promotes standardized testing in the name of equity. Counter Punch

Finally, some good news…

Are community schools the future of education reform? Writer and former charter school teacher Florina Rodov: “This particular reform is a departure from the punitive accountability, standardized testing, and school choice education reforms of the past 20 years that have disregarded poverty’s impact on test scores, shut stakeholders out of the decision-making process, applied market solutions to schools that function on the basis of human relationships not profits and losses, and diverted funding from public schools to privately managed charter and voucher schools.” Yes!

Photo by Phil Murphy.