FORUM
Voting is key
to education
reform
Brian
Pauling
Guest
Columnist
Education - the answer
to many of the problems
ailing our country - is get
ting the least amount of
attention from the candi- _
dates on the presidential
campaign trail.
According to a
November 2015 Gallup
poll, only 4 percent of
Americans consider educa
tion or education policy to
be the most important
problem facing our nation.
Respondents instead cited
the economy, poorly run
government, immigration,
gun control and health care
of most concern.
While I agree that these
are important issues, we at
100 Black Men of America
Inc. (The 100) believe that
without a quality educa
tion, many young people,
particularly African
Americans, will be con
demned to lives of poverty,
Incarceration and despair.
As a nonprofit mentor
ing organization, the edu
cation of our youth is one
of our top concerns. In our
advocacy work, The 100
has sought to raise public
awareness about the need
to reform our nation's edu
cation system, especially in
predominately African
American and low-income
communities where far too
many of the schools are
failing our children.
We are working to
ensure that every child, no
matter their ZIP code, has
access to high-performing
schools. Schools with car
ing and nurturing environ
ments, high-performing
teachers, rigorous curricu
lum, and the proper materi
als and technology are
some of the key ingredi
ents to preparing our kids
to successfully graduate
high school, handle col
?
lege-level coursework
without requiring remedia
tion, compete in a global
marketplace and become
productive members of
society.
How we get there is the
real question. One answer
is by voting. When we go
to the polls in November,
we will not only elect the
next president. We will use
our voting power to also
make important decisions
about our children's educa- '
tion. In some states,-for
example, the electorate
will be asked to decide
whether to turn the opera
tional and decision-making
control of failing schools
in their communities over
to their state governments.
Others will be asked
whether more charter pub
lic schools should be per
mitted to open in their
communities to provide
families with an option to
traditional public schools.
Still others will .be
asked how money raised
through state lotteries,
property and sales taxes,
and state and federal allo
cations should be ear
marked to support educa
tional initiatives from era
die to college.
As voters, we are fac
ing some tough choices.
Many of our local public
schools are struggling and
some even failing, but is a
state government takeover
the answer? There has
been a decades-long imbal
ance in the distribution of
educational quality and
opportunity due, in part, to
how public schools are
funded, but will proposed
funding formula changes
address those inequities
and produce successful
outcomes? If we allow
more charter schools, will
that irreversibly damage
our traditional public
schools or will the compe
tition make both stronger?
What happens to the
children and schools in our
communities will depend
largely on the actions we
take as voters. Elections at
both the federal and local
levels - from the school
board to the statehouse and
from the assembly to the
White House - are vitally
important. We need to be
talking about education in
our households and at PTA
meetings, in our barber
shops and coffeehouses,
and in our workplaces and
houses of worship.
But transformation
doesn't come by talk alone.
We also must take decisive
action. We can start by
increasing our knowledge
of the issues, committing
to exercise our right to
vote, encouraging others in
our communities to do the
same and then casting bal
lots for candidates for
whom education and the
academic success of our
children are top priorities.
The choice - and the
vote - is ours.
Brian L. Pauling is
national president and
CEO of 100 Black Men oj
America, Inc. Learn more
about the work of The 100
at www.lOOblackmenjorg.
"As voters, we
are facing some
tough choices."
-Brian Pauling
To ensure our security:
Congress must shine more
light on anonymous companies
. Frank s
Knapp
Guest
Columnist
The threat from the
misuse of anonymous shell
companies is real-and rou
tine. Criminals use them to
?scam consumers, defraud
the government, and laun
der money.
They also use them to
cheat small businesses.
For example, from
2004 to 2012 a large
Virginia-based security
firm used a shell company
to fraudulently obtain $31
million in federal contracts
- contracts that should
have gone to minority
owned small businesses
under the SBA's section
8(a) set-aside program.
In a second case, a
Maryland woman used
multiple shell companies
. to win contracts to supply
the government with paint
and other goods. She got
subcontractors to supply
the goods, billed the gov
ernment, and then walked
away with $2.3 million in
payments she owed the
subs.
The first crime used
one shell company; the
second, more than a dozen,
incorporated in six states.
Law enforcement is
routinely stymied in its
? ? - - - - I
enons 10 see aiiu siup uicse
crimes. That's because the
companies' anonymity keeps them from
knowing the real people who control and
benefit from the shells, in legalese, the
beneficial owners.
Anonymous companies are also used
to poison our politics. Last year more than
200 Limited Liability Companies.(LLCs)
donated $11 million to presidential candi
dates' super PACs, according to the Wall
Street Journal. The use of LLCs - whose
V.
owners can be hidden - defeats federal
election rules that require super PACS to
identify most of their contributors.
Anonymous companies are also used
to fund terrorism. Last July, Manhattan
DA Cyrus Vance Jr. told a House terrorism
hearing that identifying shell companies'
beneficial owners would vastly improve
law enforcement's efforts to stop terrorism
funding.
? All of this is possible because our
? tv
states rank among the world's easiest
places to create anonymous shell compa
nies. To protect our small businesses,
defend our democracy and to ensure our
security, that must change.
The solution is to require every corpo
ration and LLC to disclose its . beneficial
owners when it is formed. The states won't
do this alone, in part because states are
afraid that if they act unilaterally, they will
lose incorporation fees to states that do not
I
act.
As a result. Congress
must force them* to do this
by passing the bipartisan
Incorporation
Transparency and Law
Enforcement Assistance
Act (ITLEAA) - which
requires all states to identi
. fy the beneficial owners of
the companies they create.
Taking this action would
create a level playing field
for all states, and make it
harder for criminal and
corrupt actors to exploit
company formation law to
conduct business that no
state truly wants within its
borders.
Complying with the
Act would not burden
small businesses. Rather it
would help to level the
playing field between them
and large businesses - for
example, by providing
them with better informa
tion when they negotiate
with larger partners.
Our presidential cam
paigns have been dominat
ed by security copcerns
and yet no candidate has
called on Congress to pass
the ITLEAA. It's a
straightforward, low-cost
way to stop the misuse of
anonymous companies and
the crimes they enable.
By passing this Act,
Congress can take a com
mon sense step to boost
our security on multiple
fronts - and our presiden
tial candidates who care
about small businesses,
our democracy and our
security, should call on
Congress to do so.
Frank Knapp, Jr. is the co-chair of the
American Sustainable Business Council
and president & CEO of the South
Carolina Small Business Chamber of
Commerce.
i