The Network for Public Education Action Fund warns you not to vote for candidates in local school board races funded by billionaires who are committed to privatizing public schools.
In Alexandria, Virginia, two school board candidates are funded by a PAC created by billionaires and by TFA’s political arm called Leadership for Educational Equity. These billionaire-funded PACs are not local. They are “investing” in school board candidates across the country. They are flying below the radar, trying to buy local elections with their “investments.”
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education Action Fund writes:
It has come to our attention that 2 candidates for School Board in the Alexandria race have received over $16,000 each from a billionaire funded PAC and a related non-profit organization connected to TFA that promotes corporate reform.
Christopher Suarez running in District A received a total of $6,300 from a 501 (c)(4) organization called Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE). LEE is a $21 million non-profit with Emma Bloomberg (daughter of NYC’s Michael Bloomberg), Arthur Rock (billionaire from California), and Steuart Walton (heir to the Walmart fortune) on its board. This non-profit interferes in elections across the country to promote former TFAers who push charter schools and the corporate reform agenda. Its related PAC, Leaders in Education, contributed $10,000 as well to Friends of Christopher Suarez.
The related PAC has been funded nearly exclusively in 2018 by Michael Bloomberg, Arthur Rock, members of the Walton family and the related c4 organization, LEE.
NPE Action proudly endorsed Michelle Rief in this election a few months ago.
Veronica Nolan who is running in District B also received the same funding from LEE and its PAC.
We strongly recommend that NPE Action subscribers encourage friends and family in Alexandria to not vote for either Christopher Suarez or Veronica Nolan in the school board race and instead vote for Michelle Rief in District A and the strongest pro-public education candidate that is challenging Nolan in District B.
Please share this email on Facebook and social media with this link.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This alert is important. It is no laughing matter if you have a TFA person elected to the school board. This happened in my home town and without any heads up of the kind now available from NPE. Thank you Diane and Carol.
LikeLike
TFA controls the school boards in Minneapolis and Atlanta, to the detriment of public schools.
LikeLike
A word perhaps For EMILY GASOI in DC???
Sent from my iPhone
>
LikeLike
Posted two days ago:
DFER is spending obscene amounts of money in DC races:
LikeLike
In Charleston SC the dark money is behind Charleston Coalition for Kids.
CHSKIDS.org
Sent from my iPhone, with keys way too small for humans.
LikeLike
There are similar groups in every city, all funded by the same people.
They are intent on turning public schools over to private management.
They have no evidence of success, but they persist because the money keeps rolling in.
Possibly they inflate the results, to keep the money flowing.
LikeLike
If you go to the Foundation Center Website, do not search for LEE. Search for Leadership for Educational Equity. You should turn up nine hits, with three of these for the “Center for Leadership and Educational Equity.”
All of these IRS forms been filed since 2014. Some of these are 990 forms but nearly half are for 527 organizations, meaning PACs–political action groups.
There are millions of dollars flowing to these organizations, all devoted to training and subsidizing about 39,000 Teach for America recruits and alumni for a life in politics (according to these documents).
In 2016, LEE listed a program cost of training 200 TFA and alumni at $23,930,769. That program was offered to applicants who qualified for fellowships. I judge that each fellowship was worth about $8800. You can see a lot of detail in that 999O form for 2016.
Among other disclosures, are the names and salaries of officers and who is doing work for these organizations for a fee.
LikeLike
Laura,
My math is rusty,but $24 million for 200 trainees equals $120,000 per person.
LikeLike