I keep seeing articles about elections influenced by out-of-state and out-of-district contributions.
Sometimes, as in Los Altos, California, and in New Orleans, the elections are for local school board.
Sometimes, as in Louisiana, the election is for state school board.
Sometimes, as in Indiana and Idaho, the election is for state superintendent.
Sometimes, the election is a ballot initiative, as in Georgia, which is voting on whether to give the Governor the authority to create a commission to authorize charter schools even if the local school board objects; and in Washington State, where a referendum would create one of the nation’s most expansive charter laws; or in Michigan, where money is pouring in to oppose an initiative to make collective bargaining a right.
In school district after school district, state after state, PAC money is being bundled to promote candidates and issues with the same agenda: anti-union, anti-teacher, anti-public education, pro-privatization.
Some of the names are familiar: Bill Gates (in Washington), Michael Bloomberg (in Louisiana), Alice Walton (in Georgia and Washington), Joel Klein (in New Orleans), the DeVos family (American Federation for Children) in Michigan, Eli Broad (in Louisiana), Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst (in Michigan and in many districts). Much of the spending is targeted by Democrats for EducationReform (DFER), the Wall Street hedge fund managers group.
This cannot be sheer coincidence. In most places, the amount of money coming from outside is unprecedented. In Louisiana, the spending on a state board race was a multiple of 12 times what was previously spent.
To the naked eye, this seems to be a concerted effort to orchestrate a privatization of public education.
Big money undermining local control, democracy, and public education.
Don’t expect to hear/see this on the fawning corporate media as they are owned by the same powers to be that are the priivatizers.
I thought you were the one doing that collecting. You’re doing a great job. What help do you need?
I have posted on these issues and the big money as readers send links. I am sure I have only the tip of the iceberg.
Rhee is funding candidates all over the country, for example.
So are other rightwing groups.
I have started a thread to collect this information at http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.
If you are aware of one in your area will you please list your location, the issue, and if possible the source of the money and how much was spent.
Diane, don’t forget Perth Amboy, NJ!
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-buy-school-board-3000-miles-away.html
Rocketship Education money linked to DFER and StudentsFirst is buying a slate of school board candidates, and most of the money is from California.
Thanks, Jersey Jazzman, for getting the ball rolling.
The blame rests clearly on Barack Obama and Arne Duncan. They are primarily responsible for this dismal state of affairs. The Democratic Party has been heavily infiltrated by fakers who are bankrolled by the same bunch who have bankrolled the GOP.
I’d add these “Democrats” gave the green light to privatization efforts as soon as the two took over Washington in 2009. It happened overnight. The Bush administration could not have gotten away with this.
If they’re spending this kind of money to buy it, think of the profits they intend to make off it. Gee, I wonder who loses?
Here’s what’s happening in Michigan:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121105/POLITICS01/211050346/-1/7daysarchives/Campaign-spending-Michigan-hits-175M
Rhee’s StudentsFirst is spending millions of dollars on rightwing, anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-public education candidates. So is DFER. So is Mayor Bloomberg, who has his own PAC. So is Alice Walton. So are Koch brothers. Those are only the ones I know about, and I don’t know where all their cash is going. There must be websites that track this. We saw some of the facts before the election. Far from all of them.
Here’s $400K from Betsy DeVos’ American Federation for Children that is funding races in Pennsylvania:
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/10/while-you-are-waiting-for-hurricane.html
I have started a thread to collect this information at http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.
If you are aware of one in your area will you please list your location, the issue, and if possible the source of the money and how much was spent.
Dr. Ravitch –
Mayor Bloomberg donated $75K to support the Denver Public Schools Bond & Mill Levy initiative (http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/11/05/51590-district-campaigns-bust-1-million-mark). The bond is a $466 million dollar bond with ~$300 million in interest. Anywhere from $40 – $180 million will be spent on charter schools (see #1 here: http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/10/26/50793-fact-checking-dps-bond-issue-3b).
I have started a thread to collect this information at http://dumpduncan.org/forum/discussion/42/registry-of-attempts-to-buy-education-elections-by-prizatizers.
If you are aware of one in your area will you please list your location, the issue, and if possible the source of the money and how much was spent.
In today’s NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/education/future-of-georgias-charter-schools-on-ballot.html?pagewanted=all there’s a photo of a physical education teacher in the Pataula Charter Academy in Edison, GA wearing a green T-shirt in the gym that says “VOTE YES FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS”. I can’t believe that kind of electioneering is permitted.
If you count Eli Broad and Bill Gates, the reach is enormous and has been going on for some time. Los Angeles’ board is almost completely controlled by them. They also spent millions to get Sleazy Deasy as our Superintendent. They swap out board members and play games. Many corrupt people take their money gladly (Monica Garcia, and at least three more represent their interests). Luckily we have some good people running against Monica and Steve Zimmer this time around but they may not have the money to defeat the Gates/Broad cabal.
I hope people answer your plea on this and that you will publish a compendium of these in a future blog or— better yet— in some widely read mainstream publication like the NYTimes or maybe PTO Today magazine… This is all happening under people’s radar, just like ALEC and— until very recently— the Koch brother’s coordinated efforts… We’re all going to wake up some morning and find that our local school boards have no control over the schools and our teachers have been replaced with inexperienced TFA folks willing to work for next-to-nothing to help pay back their student loans.