Dive Brief:
- The race for several school board seats in Los Angeles has led to charter school supporters holding a majority of seats for the first time, and the races became the most expensive school board elections in the history of the country, according to the Los Angeles Times.
- Pro-charter advocates spent approximately $9.7 million in the race for the two seats on Los Angeles’ Board of Education, in comparison to the $5.2 million that has been spent by pro-union groups — and the pro-charter group Parent Teacher Alliance spent the most for a single organization, at about $5.14 million.
- The candidates themselves typically spent their money on positive campaigning, while the outside organizations tended to do more of the negative campaigning in a move that allowed candidates to decry those types of attacks while simultaneously benefiting from them.
Dive Insight:
In the tumult of the 2016 presidential election, voters did not typically consider education to be at the top of issues they considered to be vitally important, which was not necessarily a new phenomena for national races. The Hill suggested that education is not always seen as a principle concern in national elections, as it is typically viewed as a state and local matter.
However, this could be shifting. The controversial appointment of Betsy DeVos as education secretary seemed to strike a nerve with critics of the new presidential administration, with one poll finding her to be the least popular of six prominent Trump administration officials. In a bitterly contested election and aftermath, the fact that DeVos garnered particular scrutiny from critics suggests that education may become a more pronounced and contentious national conversation in the years to come.
This could only increase with the rollout of the Every Student Succeeds Act, though it could be contrasted by the fact that President Trump does not often comment on education matters, which may not lift the blossoming issues to the national stage. But there is evidence to indicate that national school board elections are increasingly becoming nationalized, with outside money flowing in as occurred in Los Angeles. Similar instances occurred in Denver and New Orleans, and in Bridgeport, CT, 66% of campaign contributions for a school board election came from national donors. The influx of outside money could bring national debates (and partisan squabbles) to elections that are often primarily focused on hyper-local concerns.