Stake in PARCC vendor is for shareholder activism, union says

The American Federation of Teachers is using its power as a Pearson LLC shareholder to try to “promote change from within” the massive education company, according to a news release issued in response to a Journal article.

AFT hit back against the Journal and the New Mexico Public Education Department over Saturday’s story, which highlighted financial ties between the union and Pearson, creator of the controversial PARCC test.

The Journal contacted AFT New Mexico for comment Thursday and Friday, but its spokesman did not provide a response prior to publication.

At issue are 27 union affiliate retirement funds that include shares of Pearson, the largest education company and book publisher in the world.

AFT recently signed on to a shareholder resolution demanding that Pearson review its business strategy “to re-evaluate its commitment to tests like PARCC and its backing of school privatization in the developing world,” according to the news release.

“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,” the news release states.

AFT stresses that the status quo isn’t working for Pearson: The company cut 4,000 jobs in January and experienced a 40 percent decline in stock price over a year.

Randi Weingarten, the union’s president, said the shareholder resolution aims to create “a better, more economically sustainable firm that works to advance public education in a spirit of collaboration.”

A PED statement included in Saturday’s story blasted the 1.6 million-member union for having a financial stake in Pearson while also fighting the corporation on a number of policy issues, particularly the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test.

“It is the very height of hypocrisy for the union to publicly bash an organization, yet gladly take their money behind closed doors,” PED spokesman Robert McEntyre said in the statement.

AFT New Mexico President Stephanie Ly said the department has the wrong priorities.

“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,” she said in a statement.

AFT also claimed the Saturday Journal article was “intentionally misleading” about the union’s relationship with Pearson.