Tomorrow, March 5, is Election Day in Los Angeles.
Voters will select the local school board.
Will billionaires (and some mere millionaires) persuade them to vote the slate they want?
Anthony Cody follows the money, since some of the donors will gain financially by electing their slate.
Mayor Villaraigosa boasts of having raised $3.7 million to keep the “reform” (aka, privatization) movement alive in Los Angeles. He must feel some urgency since Bloomberg’s third term ends this year, and NYC voters are tired of his endless school closings.
In addition, this article includes a list of the big donors to the campaign to oust Steve Zimmer and to protect Monica Garcia.
The supporters of the L.A. Campaign include not only New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who failed to reform NYC’s public schools; Joel Klein, who works for Rupert Murdoch and is selling product to the schools; Philip Anschutz, the producer of “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down,” and funder of anti-gay, anti-evolution campaigns; Michelle Rhee’sStudentsFirst; Eli Broad; and assorted Hollywood moguls who no doubt are education experts and parents of children in the L.A. Public schools.
Let’s hope that the voters in Los Angeles are not swayed by big money and propaganda.
If they buy Los Angeles, which city or state will they buy next?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This already happened in New Orleans…though I’m linking to you! https://dianeravitch.net/2012/11/04/outside-cash-flooding-into-new-orleans-school-board-race/
Yes, Christa, it is getting to be a familiar story. A small group of very rich people–the Waltons, Broads, Bloombergs, DFER, etc.–buying state and local school board races.
Big money throws all it has at a target, overwhelms the locals who fight alone, and then moves on to conquer the next local target. This has been going on in NYC for Bloomberg’s entire reign vis a vis neighborhood “reform.” One by one, Bloomberg has taken over swaths of neighborhoods to enrichen his class of corporate developers. Biggest example was seizure of two beloved parks in the impoverished South Bronx(28 acres seized, 377 mature oak trees chopped down, picnic areas and ballfields de molished)in a low-income hispanic area where this was the only open greenspace, all taken over to build a new stadium for the Yankees, along with a $543mil public subsidy in addition(similar deal given to Mets for their new stadium). Billionaire developers repeated this takeover for Columbia U against local neighbors and merchants; then for the Nets’ Barclay Arena in downtn Bklyn displacing famlies there; then for Willetts Point in Quns, shoving aside small businesses there employing about 1500 workers, to erect a high-end condo/resort. Each neighborhood dispossessed lost on its own without any coalition or support with other areas under assault. What if they had all fought back together and forced the billionaire Mayor and his cronies to fight on 6 fronts at once instead of a serial blitzkrieg against them one at a time? Lesson in all this??? When corporate attackers like Bloomberg, Rhee, Broad, Gates, Walton, Koch, etc., come to LA to drown democracy with their endless dollars, many other pub schl district teachers, parents, and students should go on a wildcat strike, sit down in the streets near their schools until the billionaires back of LA and let LA people decide what they want. LA parents, teachers, and students cannot defend themselves against a national billionaire blitzkrieg, so they need us and we will certainly need them when its our turn next wherever we are.
The question which this nation has to ask is what we want our democracy to look like. Education is only one small piece of this puzzle, and is being examined very well by Diane Ravitch. One would believe that education debates would be run by educators. Health Care issues should be debated by Heath Care professionals, Public Safety and Mental Health Care issues should also be debated by professionals in the profession. Money issues and where funding is coming from should be debated by political and business leaders seperate and distinct from making decisions which will make our democracy better. It is unfortunate that some people see these democratic institutions as a means of profiting and they are able to get into the debate with no knowledge of the issues. They should debate one thing. How do we get the best services for the most number of people at the least cost possible. Business and political leaders need to have their feet held to the fire on this.