The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) just became the fifteenth organization to disassociate itself with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative group responsible for crafting model legislation on a number of contentious issues.
In a press release, NBPTS — an organization that advocates for teacher certification as part of education policy — said that they no longer want to be associated with ALEC “given recent events.” While they do not specify their grievances, their addition to a long list of organizations to disaffiliate adds credence to the argument that groups are upset over ALEC’s role in pushing voter suppression and the so-called “Stand Your Ground” laws:
[S]ince December 2010, NBPTS participated in the Education Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) by sharing the impact and effectiveness of National Board programs with ALEC members, including state legislators. Given recent events, the new NBPTS President and CEO decided to discontinue engagement with ALEC. As a result, NBPTS terminated its membership as an Education Task Force Member of ALEC effective April 18, 2012, and also withdrew from participating in the upcoming ALEC conference.
Several advocacy groups have been calling on companies and non-profits to ditch ALEC, including Color of Change, Credo Action, and Sum of Us. But conservatives are fighting tooth and nail to protect their beloved policy-making institution, with one pundit going so far as to call Color of Change, an African American-driven action network, a “lynch mob.”
The argument doesn’t seem to be working, though, as the list of ALEC supporters continues to shrink. Groups that have dropped ALEC include: Kaplan, Procter & Gamble, Yum! Brands, five Pennsylvania legislators, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Reed Elsevier, American Traffic Solutions, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft, Intuit, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wendy’s, Mars, Inc., and Arizona Public Service.