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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
The Pioneer Institute is independent and non-partisan (unbiased) and has studied some of the issues surrounding the CC:

file:///C:/Users/Jon/Downloads/The%20Revenge%20of%20K12%209.6.14.pdf[/quote]

Actually the Pioneer Institute is neither independent nor non-partisan nor unbiased.

[i]Pioneer Institute for Public Policy ResearchFrom SourceWatch
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Learn more about how the State Policy Network aids ALEC and spins disinformation in the states.
 
 Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.
 
The Pioneer Institute (PI) is a right-wing pressure group that describes itself as a "think tank" that is "committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy".[1] It houses and runs the Center for School Reform,[2] the Shamie Center for Better Government,[3] and the Center for Economic Opportunity.[4] It is known for having a staff that has served in various positions in the recent Republican Massachusetts governors' administrations (Weld, Cellucci, Swift,[5] and Romney).[6]

The Pioneer Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN).

SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” in every state across the country. It is an $83 million right-wing empire as of the 2011 funding documents from SPN itself and each of its state "think tank" members. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[7]

In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[8]

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[9]

ControversiesTies to the American Legislative Exchange CouncilThe Pioneer Institute has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It has been listed as a member of the ALEC Education Task Force[10][11] and the Health and Human Services Task Force. An August 2013 ALEC board document obtained by The Guardian suggests that the Pioneer Institute terminated its ALEC membership on March 18, 2013 after it was "kicked out of ALEC (?) because of education issue"[12] (presumably a resolution in opposition to Common Core that passed the Education Task Force twice but was voted down by ALEC's board).[13] SPN is also a private sector member of ALEC.

See SPN Ties to ALEC for more.[/i]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pioneer_Institute_for_Public_Policy_Research[/quote]

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