Our newest report, “The Koch Network and the Capture of K-12 Education,'' demonstrates how the Koch network methodically works to capture and privatize public education for its own gain. The report looks at national tactics utilized by the Koch network to destabilize and abolish public education, and highlights Arizona as a specific case study, as the state is a red flag example of how the Koch agenda comes into play at the expense of students, teachers, and public education as a whole. The report was written with the help of our summer fellows and produced alongside Save Our Schools Arizona. 

In order to influence K-12 public education, the Koch network has financed local, state, and national mechanisms to create multiple crises -- only to turn around and cite these same crises as reasons to adopt their free market solutions. The Koch network has made no secret about the critical role that public education plays as an ideal arena for influencing U.S. policy and culture. Through a variety of tactics -- charter schools, vouchers, curriculum, textbooks, trainings, using state politicians to engage in culture war against progressive ideas and more -- the Koch network is able to ensure the spread of their ideas, including climate disinformation and free-market favoring economics philosophy.