American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a public policy research institution founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1973 by Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and [Page 62]others with financial support from the Adolph Coors Company. Weyrich is also notable for founding the Heritage Foundation and coining the phrase “moral majority.” Created to advance a conservative agenda among state legislators, the shared vision of the members of ALEC include a belief in limited government, the promotion of capitalism and free markets, federalism, and the protection of individual liberty. In general, ALEC operates on the belief that local and state governments, rather than the federal government, are a more efficient and effective way to protect individual freedom and solve the problems of society. Since its inception, ALEC has been extensively involved in educational reform efforts that reflect these perspectives. Some of the most influential early members of ALEC included Henry Hyde, representative from Illinois; Robert Kasten, governor of Wisconsin; Tommy Thompson, governor of Wisconsin and, later, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Welfare; John Engler, governor of Michigan; Terry Branstad, governor of Iowa; Representative John Kasich, Ohio; Senator James Buckley, New York; Senator Jesse Helms, North Carolina; Representative Phil Crane, Illinois; and Representative Jack Kemp, New York.

In 1986 ALEC began to formally establish task forces as vehicles to develop policy papers and model legislation to address a wide range of current and desired responsibilities of state and federal government. While there have been as many as 12 task forces in operation at one time, there are currently 8 task forces: Civil Justice; Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development; Criminal Justice and Homeland Security; Health and Human Services; Natural Resources; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Telecommunications and Information Technology; and Education. The task forces commission research, publish position papers, conduct workshops, and draft model legislation to reflect ALEC policy positions. Task force membership includes members from both the public and the private sector. Model legislation is designed to be used by state and federal legislators to advance a far-reaching conservative agenda and to advance the interests of business and industry. According to ALEC, approximately 1,000 bills modeled on their legislation are introduced in state legislatures each year. Of these bills, approximately 20% are enacted into law.

Education was an early policy and legislative concern of ALEC and remains so today. The stated mission of ALEC related to education is “to promote excellence in the nation's educational system by advocating education reform policies that promote parental choice and school accountability, consistent with Jeffersonian principles of free markets and federalism.” ALEC takes positions on the following six broad issues that guide the majority of its policy and legislative efforts related to education: school funding, parental choice in education, higher education, teacher salary and performance pay, teacher certification, and private sector involvement in education.

With regard to school funding, ALEC takes the position that there is not a close relationship between education spending and student achievement. It points out that despite tremendous increases in education spending over the past 20 years, there has not been a significant increase in student achievement. ALEC promotes policies and legislation that will purportedly more closely align funding with student achievement. ALEC's advocacy for parental choice in education is based on two premises. First, more educational options will better serve the individual needs of parents and, students. Second, a greater choice of schooling options will lead to increased competition and, thereby, improved quality. ALEC advances the following educational options in particular: alternative public schools, private schools, charter schools, and virtual schools. It is ALEC's position that teacher salary and performance pay should be based on merit, and that the primary determinant of teacher performance should be student achievement. According to its view, in addition to the traditional teacher education certification process, there should be more teacher certification options for noneducation subject area professionals. Finally, ALEC promotes the concept that increased private sector involvement serves an important role in meeting the educational needs of individual students in particular, and improving educational quality, in general. ALEC also advocates legislation reflecting its perspective on class size, educator liability, No Child Left Behind, and special education.

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