School voucher PACs spend $210K in TN ahead of '14 races
Out-of-state groups hoping to get school voucher legislation passed this year in the Tennessee General Assembly have already spent lavishly heading into the 2014 election cycle, financial disclosures submitted Friday show.
Washington, D.C.-based Tennessee Federation for Children spent $113,115 over the past six months as Sacramento-based StudentsFirst poured $97,750 into races. Both groups delivered funds almost exclusively to Republicans, but also contributed money to Democrat Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis, who last week emceed a school choice rally hosted by the two organizations and others that want a new system allowing public money to go toward private schooling.
The activity follows major financial plays from them during the 2012 election, which marked their arrival on the political scene here. StudentsFirst, an education reform organization founded by former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, spent $550,000 back then as Tennessee Federation for Children pumped $276,000 into races. The latter also paid for a sizeable statewide radio advertisement blitz.
Financial disclosures show StudentsFirst Tennessee PAC is bankrolled entirely by its Sacramento headquarters. Tennessee Federation for Children, meanwhile, has Nashville donors including auto dealership mogul Lee Beaman, who gave $25,000 to the group,