Tom Ultican shares a delightful and very satisfying story of what happened in Denver, where voters chose three non-corporate reformers to fill out a majority of five on the district’s seven-member school board.
Denver has had a solid decade of corporate reform (or as I call it, Disruption) control.
Schools opened and closed; charter schools opened; students shuffled around.
Apparently, the voters decided that enough was enough.
The Disruption candidates were backed by billionaires Phillip Anschutz (the evangelical producer of “Waiting for ‘Superman'”) and Emma Bloomberg (daughter of billionaire Michael Bloomberg). Others of the usual suspects showed up to funnel money to the supporters of the “reform” status quo.
But the Disruption candidates lost. All three seats up for grabs were captured by supporters of stability and public schools.
The victory of 21-year-old Tay Anderson was the most dramatic:
The board of directors’ at-large seat is voted on by the entire city. There were three candidates vying for the at-large seat: Tay Anderson, Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Natela Alexandrovna Manuntseva. Anna DeWitt filed for the seat and raised some money but was not on the ballot. Manuntseva did not have enough resources or organizational support to compete. The race was essentially between Anderson and Harrigan.
Harrigan was the most politically connected of the nine school board candidates. A Denver Post biography noted,
“Menocal Harrigan currently works in advocacy for expanding computer science education. She previously was an education adviser to then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Denver City Council aide and a staff member for Sen. Michael Bennet, who helped launch DPS’s current reform agenda during his time as superintendent.”
Anderson’s biography on the other hand looks anything but formidable. The Denver Post reported,
“Anderson, a Manual High School graduate, ran unsuccessfully for the District 4 seat in 2017, when he was 18. He currently works as restorative practices coordinator at North High School.”
Tay is now 21-years-old.
Harrigan received large contributions from Colorado billionaire, Phillip Anschutz, and from a billionaire daughter living in New York Emma Bloomberg and from a billionaire Teach For America champion from Silicon Valley, Arthur Rock. In total, she had over $350,000 supporting her campaign. Three independent expenditure committees spent more than $190,000 dollars in her support including $127,000 from Students for Education Reform (SFER).
It should be noted that Phillip Anschutz has a billion-dollar foundation located in Denver and owns Walden Publishing. Walden Publishing was behind the school privatization movies ‘Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Waiting for Superman.’
Surprisingly, Tay Anderson had more than $125,000 supporting his election including $40,000 from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA). Committees that bundle many individual contributions are allowed to make large direct donations.
Tay Anderson was outspent by $350,000 to $125,000, but he won anyway.
Read the rest of the article.
It is a great reminder that the Resistance can win despite big money if it persists and persists and educates the public.
It is a new day in Denver.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Surprisingly, Tay Anderson had more than $125,000 supporting his election including $40,000 from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA).”
Imagine if they succeed in getting rid of labor unions and employee associations. 100% billionaire donors. No opposition, pushback or dissent. No one else will be able to compete.
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So annoyed. I wrote a comment that WordPress wouldn’t allow me to post and then got lost ! Oh well, I’ll try again.
Thank you to Thomas Ultican for his thoughtful analysis of Denver’s election. He has pointed out many important facts and factors in the recent revolution we saw here. I posted a more granular look late yesterday afternoon after the results became final. District 5 was a nail biter but union/community backed Brad Laurvick pulled it out. The headline from Thomas, Diane, And me is: reform has been defeated in Denver. Now the hard work begins.
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One of Colorado’s bordering states is Nebraska. The latest blog entry at School Choice Nebraska is titled, “Disruptive Innovation…”
In reviewing rally sponsors, press conferences etc. which promote school choice, there’s reason to think Americans for Prosperity (Koch), the Nebraska Catholic Conference and School Choice Nebraska are on the same page relative to privatization. School Choice
Nebraska mentions lower cost (taxes) frequently as a selling point and that is also the reputation for AFP’s interest. We can speculate about Nebraska Catholic Conference.
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Denver voters obviously have a lot more on the ball than those in Cincinnatti (not to mention urban voters in rust belt, central & southeastern states who’ve actually allowed state actors to take away their local control)– it only took them a decade of reformy BofE & consequent policy changes. They observed on-the-ground results, tabulated data—and “no thanks.” Democracy in action!
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