It’s not quite the governor’s race, but the war chests are growing as opponents to candidates aligned with the teachers union are trying to get their own candidates elected to the Los Angeles Board of Education.

According an article in the Los Angeles Times, opponents have raised $1.5 million, mostly from a small group of wealthy donors, including education and arts philanthropist Eli Broad, who gave $250,000 to the Coalition for School Reform. The coalition, which includes Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, strongly supports the policies of John Deasy, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, according to the Times.

The coalition is conducting an independent campaign backing its preferred candidates for three open seats.

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  1. Stephanie 11 years ago11 years ago

    The Coalition For School Reform is a sinister movement that gets all it's funding from private donors as Stuart Goldurs said. Deasy "served as deputy director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation" and he attended "The Broad Superintendents Academy" in 2006. (http://www.broadcenter.org/academy/network/profile/john-deasy) So Deasy is in deep with the business community and although he has concealed his zeal for privatizing public education, that's exactly what he plans to do. Obviously these investors across … Read More

    The Coalition For School Reform is a sinister movement that gets all it’s funding from private donors as Stuart Goldurs said. Deasy “served as deputy director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” and he attended “The Broad Superintendents Academy” in 2006. (http://www.broadcenter.org/academy/network/profile/john-deasy)

    So Deasy is in deep with the business community and although he has concealed his zeal for privatizing public education, that’s exactly what he plans to do. Obviously these investors across the country see the opportunity to get their hands on the $5m of taxpayer dollars that go toward this country’s public education. And for the negligible percentage of the total cost of public education that they donate, they have a disproportionate say and amount of control over the direction of education.

  2. CarolineSF 11 years ago11 years ago

    I think the real story is the OUTSIDE money, such as Bloomberg’s donation. How many of the “small group of donors” are outside L.A.?