Sacramento-based StudentsFirst is seeking to expand its political clout in California by asking its members to contribute to a new election campaign fund.
The advocacy and lobbying organization wants to set up a small contributor committee, Californians for Putting Students First, that would give money directly to state and local candidates.
“This committee will be able to make direct contributions to candidates, giving us a powerful new tool to push education reform in the Capitol,” read an e-mail to members. “With a large number of smaller donations, we can show that fixing education in the state is a priority by highlighting our most important resource: you and your fellow members.”
Created by former Washington, D.C., school chancellor Michelle Rhee, StudentsFirst is active in 18 states, including California. The group advocates for
StudentsFirst already has been a big campaign donor, though mainly to races outside California.
Education blogger and author Alexander Russo reported that in the 2012 campaign cycle, StudentsFirst donated about $3.7 million to 105 candidates, including about $1 million to three Democratic candidates to the California Assembly, two of whom, Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernadino, and Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, won. In addition, it gave money to school board races in West Sacramento and Burbank. It also gave $350,000 to the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee that donated millions last year to candidates for the Los Angeles Unified school board. The biggest donation to that committee was $1.35 million by then-New York Mayor Michael