Schools Matter: Will Wake County Citizens Allow the Koch Brothers and the John Birch Society Run Their Schools?

Schools Matter: Will Wake County Citizens Allow the Koch Brothers and the John Birch Society Run Their Schools?

Will Wake County Citizens Allow the Koch Brothers and the John Birch Society Run Their Schools?

by Jim Horn

From Think Progress:

Today in the Washington Post, reporter Stephanie McCrummen detailed how a right-wing campaign in the Wake County area of North Carolina has taken over the school board with a pledge to end a very successful socio-economic integration plan. The integration plan, which created thriving schools in poor African-American parts of the school district along with achieving diversity in schools located in wealthy white enclaves, was a model for the nation.

However, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Tea Party group founded and funded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, worked with local right-wing financier (and AFP board member) Art Pope to fundamentally change Wake County’s school board:

“I don’t want us to go back to racially isolated schools,” said Shila Nordone,