In San Rafael, California, a School Board Race has been roiled by charges that one candidate took money from Leaders for Educational Equity (LEE), the little-known political arm of Teach for America.
LEE is funded by the usual out-of-State billionaires, including Alice Walton and Michael Bloomberg.
Other candidates wonder why this one guy became the favorite of out-of-State billionaires.
Good question.
These billionaires don’t give money for no reason. They expect something in return.
It’s a very good sign when citizens raise questions and follow the money.
The money is poisoning our politics.
Exposing it is necessary to save our democracy and prevent the billionaires from buying whatever they want. Including school boards and democracy.
To learn more about the billionaire raid on local school board, read this report from NPE Action: Hijacked by Billionaires: How the Super Rich Buy Elections to Undermine Public Schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I just don’t know how one can take Walton money and say one supports public schools.
The Walton people don’t do anything for public schools, other than bash them and try to replace them.
It’s fine to take it but don’t lie to the public about what it buys- it buys a whole privatization agenda that adds no value to any existing public school, anywhere.
Go read anything by the Walton lobbying groups- you will not find a single effort or initiative that benefits students in existing public schools.
I don’t know why we’re paying public employees to just replicate what the lobbyists for the Walton foundation do. That’s ludicrous and no one in the public should put up with it. I don’t feel like subsidizing this billionaire foundation by paying their employees.
Decide. Work for the public and not the Walton heirs or get off the public payroll. Pick an employer. You can’t work for both.
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Any candidate funded by Walton is anti-public school. Like Tuck in Ca
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It’s just amazing that we’re not even allowed to have public school supporters on school boards.
Go look at a charter board. It’s all charter school supporters. Public school boards have to be packed with charter promoters too? Kids in public schools get NO advocates for the school they currently attend? Instead we must have charter school boards composed entirely of charter cheerleaders and also public school boards composed entirely of charter school cheerleaders? Our kids get NO adult advocates in government?
It’ s bad enough the federal government can’t be bothered to do any work for kids in public schools. We now also can’t have anyone in local government? When do our schools get an advocate? Charters have them. Vouchers have them. Public schools are forbidden to have them? No wonder our schools fare so poorly under ed reform leadership- no one works for our kids.
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YES; adamant support for public schools just as they are has been notably absent. There are a small number of vocal public school candidates stating their advocacy this fall; may that number rise to be PREDOMINANT by 2020.
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The comments on the race show support for LEE money in this campaign as if LEE and the charter industry was not out to have the public schools for lunch. What a pity.
The Follow the Money report is a wonderful addition to NPE publications. I hope that someone in Ohio has the savvy, interest, and time to develop a map of the flows of money into ECOT and supporters and to build a similar database for K-12 and successors to ECOT. Another project would trace the money flows to participants in the state’s ridiculous jargon filled-strategic plan.
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Tuck should be triple shamed for all the Alt-Right, out-of-state billionaire money he’s getting to run as a fake Democrat in California supported by a campaign full of lies and misinformation to fool voters.
Why can’t a Republican candidate or fake Democrat win by avoiding spreading fear and to tell the truth instead?
This is why the Republican Party got rid of the Fairness Doctrine back in the 1980s because the GOP knew if it was forced to run on facts and truth, they’d lose most of the elections and probably vanish as a party.
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