Veteran educator Val Flores pulled off a stunning upset when she beat a well-funded candidate for a seat on the state board. No one thought it could happen.
Val spent $20,000. Her opponent spent $135,000. Val won by a margin of 59-41.
Jeanne Kaplan, a former member of the Denver school board, explains what happened.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is the most powerful news in a very long time.
It’s the story of simple consensus, consensus reality, and the banding of civic participants who forged a different path. It’s the story of democracy and critical thinking form a critical mass. It’s not the stuff of dreams . . . .
It’s the potential we all have to fulfill in ourselves when we use the mechanisms still available to us in our democracy and vote the devil out and vote the angels in . . . . .
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“People were waiting to hear the message I was delivering. People do not want their neighborhood public schools closed. People do not want public education to be privatized.”
This is great, but I do wonder what else she said. I’m wondering if she talked specifically about local public schools, because I see a real hole in the “ed reform debate” as it is now. What’s missing is, well, public schools.
The entire ed reform narrative around public schools is both negative and vague. I hear way, way more about charter schools in this state than I do about public schools. I wonder if the way to break through to parents and other members of the community is for candidates to talk about their public schools, rather than “choice” or the “the status quo” or “charter schools”. I don’t know of course, but my sense is public school advocates and supporters could really set themselves apart there, simply because there IS no discussion of local public schools other than using them as punching bags, listing new mandates and requirements, or comparing them (always unfavorably) to charter schools. I’m not talking about cheerleading. I’m talking about speaking directly to the people who use public schools about their specific public schools. That would be the local advantage, and it would also give people with local experience in those specific schools an advantage.
What’s the advantage a “veteran educator” has over a well-funded opponent? Experience. She knows a lot about the existing schools most of their children attend. She values them, intends to keep them, and can talk about them specifically, both good and bad. I think that beats “choice!” and “excellence!” and “great schools!” any day of the week 🙂
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I’m bursting to share the election primary story I just found. We have the leading candidate in the Hawaii Governors race! He got the attention of the press by surging to first place in polling for the Democratic primary, against the incumbent corporate reform Governor.
His name is David Ige, and he’s standing with Hawaii parents and teachers against the publicly despised CCSS and its brutal data regime, including VAM evaluations.
http://www.civilbeat.com/2014/06/teacher-morale-emerges-as-an-issue-in-the-governors-race/
This isn’t about Colorado, but it’s about the “How Flores Beat…” part. She did it without much money, exactly because she cut through the fog of money and told simple truths about the attacks on public education. Voters know more about what’s really happening than education and political reporters will tell them.
So, Hawaii voters told the press, and Alia Wong has done a great job of writing it up. However, at this point I think David Ige could use some money, also. An endorsement might be in order.
What about it, Hawaii colleagues?
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Great story. It is so encouraging to hear a candidate for governor talk about the problems of these top-down ed “reform” mandates. I hope he prevails in the primary, and it looks like that could happen!
Folks need to send in donations to David Ige for governor in Hawaii. He has a shot at taking down the pro-“reform” democratic governor.
I just looked up his website and it is http://www.davidige.org You can see his positions and there’s a handy “donate” button.
Thanks for posting and I hope Hawaii says no to CCSS and high stakes testing this fall!
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So here’s an example of what I’m talking about. This is the Denver post endorsement of her opponent:
“Flores has taught in the K-12 system as well as college, yet she has the wrong take, we believe, on some of the pressing education issues of the day.
For instance, she told us she believes charter schools siphon resources from traditional neighborhood schools, which they do not, in our opinion. Also, she seemed more interested in the affairs of Denver Public Schools than the state Board of Education.”
I bet people in the Denver Public Schools are very interested in the Denver Public Schools. 🙂
Here’s the ed reform candidate. The newspaper wants a debate on the “issues of the day” (national ed reform) which I guess means this:
“Furthermore, Hansen favors high-achieving schools whether they are charters or not, but draws the line at vouchers. He supports Colorado’s adoption of Common Core standards and keeping the test that measures comprehension of those standards.”
“Great schools!” “Choice!”
Also, they like him for his “superior analytical skills”. I have no idea what that means, or how they determined his “superior analytical skills” other than the fact that he’s a lawyer and she’s a teacher and they believe one occupation is more prestigious than the other.
This stuff is ridiculous. It’s meaningless to me and I’m a public school parent.
It sounds like she talked about local public schools and he spouted the ed reform mantra. Maybe people noticed 🙂
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“Though Flores has long studied education issues, we believe Hansen brings superior analytical skills and an admirable passion for educational equity to the table.”
In other words:
“Though she knows something about public schools and has committed her entire career to them, he’s smarter because he’s a lawyer and also, he’s younger!” 🙂
http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_25912965/democrats-should-choose-taggart-hansen-state-education-board
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Also, I’m terrified of the ed reform version of early ed. I don’t want to fund a brand new privatized sector that is built on standardized testing. I don’t think publicly-run and publicly-owned entities are going to get any of this money with ed reformers in charge at the federal, state and local level. We just had a situation here where the Obama Administration outsourced a Head Start program to a for-profit out of (first) Colorado and then Pittsburgh. The locals took half of it back, thanks to the skilled intervention of Marcy Kaptur in the US House, but they only got half.
They prefer private providers in DC over public entities. Public schools will get screwed on early ed and we’ll be creating another huge contractor sector.
I’m dreading it, honestly. It reminds me of the NCLB publicly-funded, private tutoring sector they created a decade ago which was corrupt, an absolute money pit and a disaster.
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I’m impressed! We need more people on the state board with a background in education. Someone IS watching out for Colorado and her children. Now let’s clean house in the state legislature!
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