jumps into state elections to push education overhaul:
Right Wing Pro-voucher Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee
jumps into state elections to push education overhaul
A dozen states are poised to pass significant education reforms this year depending on the outcome of next week’s election. A slate of state-level candidates want to abolish teacher tenure and tie teacher evaluations to student tests. On the ground trying to make sure they win is a new organization, StudentsFirst, founded by former Washington D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
The group has infused cash and grassroots organizing into races in states such as California, Iowa and Michigan, where teachers unions have historically dominated politics and enshrined policies like tenure and pay based on seniority in state law. StudentsFirst—with a platform that is anathema to unions—hopes to undercut their power and remove many of the labor protections that unions support.
The 2012 election is the group’s first real test. In Missouri, another state on the brink of wide-scale education reform, StudentsFirst has poured more than $100,000 into the state since the primaries and recruited more than 40,000 members to try and elect 21 candidates it has endorsed. Nationwide, the group has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in primary and general elections.
Due to the reputation of its founder as a tough reformer and unapologetic enemy of unions, StudentsFirst is the most high profile and controversial among a small number of similar groups, including Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform, that have emerged in the last few years to fight against policies typically supported by unions. Most recently, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he had formed a super PAC to back candidates that support, among other things, the education reforms he has pushed in New York,
The group has infused cash and grassroots organizing into races in states such as California, Iowa and Michigan, where teachers unions have historically dominated politics and enshrined policies like tenure and pay based on seniority in state law. StudentsFirst—with a platform that is anathema to unions—hopes to undercut their power and remove many of the labor protections that unions support.
Ed in the Election
Read more of our stories looking at how education is being discussed/debated in the election.Due to the reputation of its founder as a tough reformer and unapologetic enemy of unions, StudentsFirst is the most high profile and controversial among a small number of similar groups, including Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform, that have emerged in the last few years to fight against policies typically supported by unions. Most recently, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he had formed a super PAC to back candidates that support, among other things, the education reforms he has pushed in New York,