Karen Wolfe, a public school parent and blogger in Los Angeles, reports on the upcoming battle royal for control of the school board.
The charter ndustry is planning a raid on the school board, and their candidates can expect to be showered with money from billionaires who want to privatize more of the public schools. As karen points out, most of the donors will be able to hide their names until the primary is over, so voters won’t know which billionaires have decided to buy their public schools.
Steve Zimmer, president of the school board, will be challenged by a parent organizer for the California Charter School Association, the mother lode of privatization. Zimmer started his career as a TFA teacher, but stayed in the classroom for 17 years. The billionaires raised nearly $5 million to beat him last time he ran, but he prevailed.
Carl Petersen, a staunch friend of public schools, is running for a seat.
In another board race, the queen of corporate reform, Monica Garcia, is being challenged by teacher Lisa Alva. This will be an interesting contest because Lisa Alva started her career on the reform team but fell off the bench when she happened to participate in a conference call in 2013 that disillusioned her.
There is another candidate, Nick Melvoin, with sterling reformer credentials. He has raised $161,000. Garcia has raised $132,000. Zimmer has raised $29,000. So far. The billionaires and PACs haven’t weighed in yet. They will. The LAUSD is a big prize. The second largest district in the nation. Nearly a quarter of the students in the district attend charter schools. Billionaire Eli Broad wants half the kids in charters. He is persistent.
Will the people of Los Angeles allow the billionaires to take control of their public schools?
The primary election will be held on March 7, 2016 and the general on May 16.
We will watch this election closely as it develops.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Broad dirtbags and dirty moneybags are running on charter scams which are falling out of favor, high stakes testing which is falling out of favor, one iPad scandal, and some MiSiS crises. They’re running on billionaire overlordship, not in favor on the left coast.
Voter turnout in March will likely be extremely low, and those who do vote will therefore be relatively educated and knowledgeable. In other words, the Broad et al. funded propaganda in L.A. news outlets will have a minimal effect. I see educators winning by landslides.
Just keep following the money, Karen, Ellen, Diane. Thank you for all you do.
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I urge readers of this blog to click on the second link in this posting re Lisa Alva.
Rheephorm rheeality and reality are not the same.
😎
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Thank you to both Karen Wolfe and Diane Ravitch for their continued coverage of this election. To clarify, I am also in the race running against Monica Garcia in District 2. http://www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com
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Please remember that CA is a blue state.
The Democrats are doing NOTHING to stop this at all. So we need to gather forces to stop the likes of Villaraigosa who as LA Mayor started the trend of LAUSD charter and Mayor’s control of schools, and he is now running for Governor!
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Unfortunately, United Teachers Los Angeles – UTLA – is not helpful either. Leading up to the May 19, 2015 School Board Election Run-off between Bennett Kayser and reformer Ref Rodriguez, UTLA pulled funding for Mr. Kayser (in order to focus on another race) in the final few weeks of the election, leading to his loss.
More recently, UTLA promoted Proposition 51, which passed, providing $500 million for charter school facilities.
Some generally don’t like unions, and the complaints often are legit. In UTLA’s case, they treat dues money like a slush fund and refuse to tell members how they spend our dues money (fine dining, travel, no bid jobs as independent contractors for friends). If unions were transparent with members dues money, and streamlined operations, they could then ask charters and school districts to follow suit. Lead by example. They also act like they are so above it all – just giving generic speeches that don’t have any substance behind it.
Public Education could soon become Brexit Part III if you know what I mean. It won’t be the fault of rank and file union members, who go to work and just want a decent living. It will be the fault of union leadership, who have and are continuing to put personal enrichment ahead of the best interests of workers.
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