Legion Troll
A fine upstanding poster
SPENT FORCE?
News stories told of a national program bearing down on the school district, with money pouring in from the Koch brothers in an effort to impose an agenda from outside the community that included a new history curriculum, new restrictions on teachers’ job security, and more privately-operated charter schools.
Students, teachers and parents were openly revolting against the school board, staging school walkouts, holding boisterous protest rallies and waging a petition campaign to demand an election to recall the school board majority.
The recall effort was mostly led by parents. Then, when the results came in last week, and voters recalled the board majority. Voters overwhelmingly voted for the recall, with the charter school-backed board members going down by an average of 64 percent to 36 percent.
The race has ramifications far outside the school district, because Jeffco is the ultimate swing county in the key swing state of Colorado. That means success there could be replicated across the U.S.
In nearby Douglas County, as the Denver Post reported, “three incumbents who claimed seats on the school board as part of a reform push several years ago lost in their re-election bids.”
Elsewhere in Colorado, challengers won convincingly over conservative candidates in a school board race in Thompson County to radically alter that district’s direction toward more charter schools.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, insurgents upset the school board majority to return more teacher and parent voice to district policy making. The successful candidates sprang from the “Caucus for Change” movement started by a group of teachers, parents and community members who have been critical of district decisions.
In Jersey City, New Jersey, a slate of teacher-backed candidates brought to office a new school board majority just as the district is in transition from state control to more local autonomy.
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/15/we_...ck_big_money_charter_schools_right_wing_lies/