Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Education Week: Outside Cash Floods New Orleans Board Race

Education Week: Outside Cash Floods New Orleans Board Race:


Outside Cash Floods New Orleans Board Race

In New Orleans, where 80 percent of students attend charter schools that are not overseen by an elected board, the race for a local school board seat has become the latest battleground over how to govern public schools in a city whose education landscape has been radically transformed in the seven years since Hurricane Katrina struck.
The campaign for District 3 of the Orleans Parish school board—a panel that directly operates just six traditional public schools and oversees 12 charter schools—features local lawyer Brett Bonin , a one-term incumbent who is running for re-election against two challengers, Sarah Newell Usdin , one of the city's most visible charter school supporters, and Karran Harper Royal , a public school parent and long time advocate for students in special education.
Though five other school board seats are also up for grabs on Nov. 6, the contest in