Group battling L.A. teachers union raises $1.5 million for March election
An outside group seeking to counter teacher-union influence in the March election for the Los Angeles Board of Education has raised more than $1.5 million, mostly from a small group of wealthy donors who helped fund past campaigns.
Education and arts philanthropist Eli Broad leads the way with a contribution of $250,000 to Coalition for School Reform, which includes L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Also in for $250,000 is billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio, who headed the Univision network for years.
The coalition is conducting an independent campaign in support of its preferred candidates for three open board seats. Separate independent campaigns are being paid for by the teachers union, unions representing other
Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER
Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers
Just Like Michelle Rhee's
Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)
Other Astroturf lobbying groups
Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)
L.A. teachers union wins grant for school-reform model
L.A. teachers union wins grant for school-reform model
The union representing Los Angeles teachers has won a grant to help instructors play a prominent leadership role in their schools.
The grant to United Teachers Los Angeles is relatively small, $150,000, but backers said the seed money would go a long way toward replicating schools operating along the lines of Woodland Hills Academy, a middle school in the west San Fernando Valley.
At the campus, teachers make up half of a leadership team that also includes parents and administrators. Principal Ed Hayek still has to answer to the district bureaucracy above him, but said that his tenure and effectiveness also rely on winning and keeping the support of the leadership committee.
“At a typical school the administrator would create a plan and then mandate it to the faculty,” Hayek said. “Here,
The grant to United Teachers Los Angeles is relatively small, $150,000, but backers said the seed money would go a long way toward replicating schools operating along the lines of Woodland Hills Academy, a middle school in the west San Fernando Valley.
At the campus, teachers make up half of a leadership team that also includes parents and administrators. Principal Ed Hayek still has to answer to the district bureaucracy above him, but said that his tenure and effectiveness also rely on winning and keeping the support of the leadership committee.
“At a typical school the administrator would create a plan and then mandate it to the faculty,” Hayek said. “Here,