Synopsis

A hard-hitting documentary by reporter and news anchor Bob Bowdon, The Cartel exposes the corruption, waste, and intimidation in our nation’s public schools. Arguing that our public school system wastes billions of dollars each year, while our children learn less and less, The Cartel makes a compelling case for far-reaching and immediate reform centered on school choice.

In this stunning exposé, Bowdon unearths janitors who rake in over $100,000 a year, uncovers a failing urban high school that annually spends a whopping $419,000 per classroom, and finds that the city of Newark’s annual education bill works out to over $20,000 per student. But pumping money into the state’s public schools has not improved student learning, Bowdon finds. Although New Jersey spends more per pupil than any other state, only 37 percent of the state’s fourth-graders are proficient in reading. Only 36 percent of its eighth-graders are proficient in math.

Telling the harrowing, infuriating, and outrageous stories of New Jersey parents, children, teachers, reformers, whistleblowers, and policymakers, The Cartel puts a human face on the educational cartel and the people it harms. Offering an unforgettable look at how a widespread national crisis manifests itself in the educational failures and frustrations of individual communities, the film balances its compelling storylines against interviews with nationally known education experts such as Harvard’s Paul Peterson, Stanford’s Caroline Hoxby, the Fordham Foundation’s Chester Finn, and the Pacific Research Institute’s Lance Izumi.

Meticulously researched and strikingly presented, The Cartel is an eloquent, compelling argument for ending the wasteful system that for too long has robbed American children of their potential and their promise. Systemic, self-interested corruption could not continue if parents had the freedom to choose schools for their children, Bowdon argues. School choice could end the monopoly of government-run public schools, distribute and decentralize power, and create incentives for better, more cost-effective education.

Buy The Cartel DVD: Home Edition here.

Buy The Cartel DVD: K-12 School Edition here.

Buy The Cartel DVD: Public Screening Edition here.