This is becoming a familiar story: billionaires and millionaires are choosing a school board member in New Orleans. One of the city’s leading charter advocates, Sarah Newell Usdin, is the recipient of more than $110,000, way more than her opponents. Usdin was executive director of New Schools for New Orleans, which received nearly $30 million from the federal government to open charter schools. she also worked for the New Teacher Project and is an alumna of Teach for America. Among her contributors: Joel Klein and hedge fund manager Boykin Curry, both residents of New York City, not New Orleans.
According to the National School Boards Association, 87% of school board members spend less than $5,000 to run for office.
In the most recent state board election, Kira Orange Jones, the director of Teach for America in New Orleans, raised $450,000 in her successful effort to oust an incumbent. She had the support of the Wall Street hedge fund managers’ organization called Democrats for Education Reform. Among her generous contributors: Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Eli Broad, both billionaires who don’t live in Louisiana. Jones’ opponent raised $9,000.
There seems to be a concerted program by DFER and its allies to pour money into local and state school races and issues. The number of contributors is small, but they swamp the local races. The same names pop up again and again. Their agenda is always the same: testing, union-busting, TFA, and privatization.
This may be the big national rush before the truth about charters comes to light. Now there’s pressure on Arne to investigate K12:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/10/31/jacksonville-congresswoman-wants-federal-investigation-of-k12/
As the fraud, incompetence, and corruption continue to make news, our plutocracy may be fearing that the bloom will soon fall from the rose and the country will get wise to their scam.
And for your Obama fans out there, let’s see what he an Arne do about this. I’m betting on a whitewash or cover up.
Perhaps a dumb question, but what is the average pay for these school board positions?
What is the purpose? I suspect to get people that will serve their purpose. The purpose is to cut the cost of an education and the heck if the kids learn. Lower school costs will mean lower taxes. Then there will be less pressure on corporations to pay more.
Any other ideas?
Buying school board seats is just a temporary expedient. Better to do what New York, Chicago and other cities have done: disenfranchise everyone but the 1% from having any say in running the schools.
Mayoral control of the schools will eliminate all those pesky, inefficient characteristics of democracy, and give them over to the best and brightest, who can loot them with the greatest efficacy.