Center for Independent Education (CIE)

Background

The Center for Independent Education (CIE) was a Kansas-based non-profit that produced publications criticizing public education. It also promoted a “school voucher” system and private schools in Kansas. CIE was an early recipient of funding from Charles Koch. ¹

According to J. Kelley in the book Bringing the Market Back In: The Political Revitalization of Market Liberalism, in the early 1970s CIE was taken over by the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS), a non-profit libertarian organization directed at the time by Charles Koch. The IHS is currently housed at George Mason University.²

According to historian Nancy MacLean in her 2017 book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, Charles Koch met met prominent libertarian economist James Buchanan (the former president of the free-market Mont Pelerin Society) thanks to CIE republishing in pamphlet form a 1969 book by Buchanan on campus unrest.³ ⁴

A 1997 issue of the Koch-founded Cato Institute journal Policy Analysis, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of a school voucher system, recommended a CIE publication titled, “The Uneasy Case for State Education” for its “history of popular literacy and school attendance before government funding and compulsion.”⁵

In a 1974 article published by the Koch-funded Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), John Chamberlain lauded CIE in the context of criticizing the “State-standardized educational system.”⁶

Stance on Climate Change

The Center for Independent Education does not appear to have made any statements about climate change.

Funding

According to 2017 reporting by The Nation, the Center for Independent Education was one of the first organizations to receive major funding from the Charles Koch Foundation.⁷

Key People

George Pearson

An article in a 2006 newsletter from the Atlas Network stated that George Pearson directed CIE during the 1970s. Pearson was an Atlas Network trustee until 2017.⁸

George Pearson oversaw Charles Koch’s philanthropic efforts for a period of time from 1969 onward, according to 2014 reporting by Politico.⁹

George H. Smith

George H. Smith was identified as a CIE research fellow in a December 1978 issue of the The Libertarian Review.¹⁰ George H. Smith was formerly a senior research fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, and a lecturer of American history at Cato Summer Seminars.¹¹

Richard E. Wagner

According to a 1991 version of Richard E. Wager’s CV, Wagner was on CIE’s advisory committee from 1977 to 1979. Among additional “professional service and related activities” listed on the CV, Wagner noted being an advisory board member since 1986 at the Independent Institute as well as the Center for the Study of Market Processes at George Mason University, an editorial board member of the Cato Journal from 1984 onwards, and a visiting fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies in 1978.¹²

Actions

February 1975

The Libertarian Review reviewed “The Twelve Year Sentence: Radical Views of Compulsory Schooling,” edited by William Rickenbacker, and co-published by the Center for Independent Education and the Institute for Humane Studies. The book featured essays arguing against compulsory public education, which were based on the proceedings of a 1972 conference that CIE and IHS had co-sponsored.¹³

June 1, 1974

The Center for Independent Education co-published a book with the Institute for Humane Studies titled “The Twelve-Year Sentence: Radical Views of Compulsory Schooling,” edited by William Rickenbacker. The book contained essays arguing against compulsory public education. The essays were based on papers presented two years earlier at a conference on “compulsory schooling” co-sponsored by the two organizations.¹⁴

November 1972

The Center for Independent Education and the Institute for Humane Studies co-sponsored a conference in Milwaukee on “compulsory schooling.” The conference featured papers presented by Murray Rothbard, George Resch of the IHS, Joel Spring, libertarian lawyer Robert Baker, and Gerrit Wormhoudt, among others.

1971

The CIE published a book by Murray Rothbard titled Education: Free & Compulsory. (In 1999, the Ludwig von Mises Institute republished the book.)¹⁵ Murray Rothbard would go on to co-found the Center for Libertarian Studies in 1976.

Contact & Address

The following information was found in the May 1971 issue of the Individualist:¹⁸

Center for Independent Education of Wichita Collegiate School
9115 East Thirteenth
Wichita, Kansas 67026

Other Resources

Resources

1
Kim Phillips-Fein. “Mont Pelerin in Virginia,” The Nation, September 7, 2017. Archived July 26, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/hvuSd
2
J. Kelly. Bringing the Market Back In: The Political Revitalization of Market Liberalism, NYU Press, June 1, 1997.
3
Rebecca Onion. “What Is the Far Right’s Endgame? A Society That Suppresses the Majority,” Slate, June 22, 2017. Archived July 25, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/iC6Kl
4
“Historian: Republican Push to Replace Obamacare Reflects Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America,” Democracy Now!, aired June 29, 2017.
5
“Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 269: Vouchers and Educational Freedom: A Debate” (PDF), Policy Analysis, March 12, 1997. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
6
“A Reviewer’s Notebook – 1974/8,” Foundation for Economic Education, August 1, 1974. Archived July 26, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/bUak6
7
Kim Phillips-Fein. “Mont Pelerin in Virginia,” The Nation, September 7, 2017. Archived July 26, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/hvuSd
8
“Atlas Celebrates 25 Years of Advancing Freedom” (PDF), Atlas Highlights, Summer 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
9
Daniel Schulman. “Charles Koch’s Brain,” Politico, September/October 2014. Archived July 25, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/QQVnp
10
The Libertarian Review, Vol. 7, No. 11 (December 1978). Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
11
“George H. Smith,” Libertarianism.org. Archived July 25, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/ObxoJ
12
“January 1991 Curriculum Vitae, Richard E Wagner,” Industry Documents Library at the University of California, San Francisco Library. Bates No. TI50541816.
13
“The Twelve Year Sentence: Radical Views of Compulsory Schooling” (PDF), Libertarian Review, Vol. 4 No. 2 (February 1975).
14
The Twelve-Year Sentence, Open Court Pub Co, June 1, 1974.
15
Murray N. Rothbard. “Education Free & Compulsory” (PDF), Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 1999. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
16
J. Kelly. Bringing the Market Back in: The Political Revitalization of Market Liberalism, NYU Press, June 1, 1997.
17
Kim Phillips-Fein. “Mont Pelerin in Virginia,” The Nation, September 7, 2017. Archived July 26, 2019. Archive.fo URL: https://archive.fo/hvuSd
18
Individualist Vol. 3, No. 5 (May 1971). Retrieved from Libertarianism.org. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

DeSmog

DeSmog