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Thursday, May 13, 2021

Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog
Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling?




On April 02, 2021, the Kansas City Star reported that an “outside group” spent $100K in the Kansas City (MO) School Board election in support of two contenders, locals Tanesha Ford and Kandace Buckener.

In the April 2021 KC board election, two other members were unopposed. Ford and Buckener were buoyed by $100K in mystery money funneled through Blaque independent expenditure committee. Since Blaque is not directly connected to the candidates it supports, the “non-committee” is not required to disclose to the public who, exactly, is funding its efforts.

Members of the KC public in support of traditional public schools are concerned that Blaque’s undisclosed money comes from school choice promoters, as the April 23, 2021, KCUR reports:

Advocates for the district are worried about money that poured into the school board election from school choice proponents — BLAQUE gets funding from SchoolSmart KC, which in turn gets money from the Kauffman and Hall foundations.

Based on the KCUR article, Ford and Buckener appear to be concerned about “student achievement,” which certainly involves the test scores upon which KC’s longstanding accreditation woes critically depend. Other components of Missouri CONTINUE READING: Kansas City Schools’ Accreditation Woes: Are the Philanthropic Vultures Circling? | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog