A parent’s perspective: Pricey L.A. school board election is wake-up call
Like my neighbors, it wasn’t until millions of dollars began pouring into my little, local school district that I first paid any attention to the Los Angeles school board race. Most of us were too busy with common travesties in our schools, like sluggish fundraising and chronic understaffing, to notice. In short order, it became clear that this was an end-game for a massive national power struggle in the “dismantle-and-privatize-our-government” game. This has been a campaign of Herculean scale, including assaults on checks and balances, free thinking and the bulwark of labor unions. Where have I been? Without ever noticing it, I was moved into a constituency camp termed “parent” and consigned to a group I never knew was conscripted. I was ascribed a whole host of concerns and partisan viewpoints I did not know were mine. For those who haven’t followed the L.A. school board election closely, it attracted national attention and millions in outside money. The contributions—from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee, among others—flowed to school-board candidates who support charter schools, new teacher evaluations based on student test scores, and overhauling teacher tenure. It turns out that an incumbent aligned with Superintendent John Deasy and an incumbent