AFT “so far” pumps $600,000 into School Board Race

Remember the Douglas County School Board race? The Toxic-Trio, tire scraps, Blaine Amendments, and what not? Of course you do. The Doug Co race has been one of Colorado’s most eminent issues for months. Well, mail-in ballots have arrived in homes, and with just minutes to go in the bottom of the ninth, the nation’s second largest teacher’s union has made a desperate attempt to sway the outcome of the election in its favor.

The Douglas County School Board race has garnered much national attention–and rightly so. It will not only determine the fate of private school choice in Douglas County, but could determine the constitutionality of Blaine clauses in Colorado. It’s a pivotal moment in education, which is why the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is adamantly attempting to manipulate the election to fit its political agenda.

Ross Izard, senior policy analyst at the Independence Institute and my favorite policy nerd, details the recent uncovering of an additional 300,000-dollar donation AFT made to the Douglas County race (after its initial 300,000-contribution) in his op-ed A national teachers’ union’s war machine is on the move in Colorado, which was published in The Hill.

In total, AFT has donated 600,000 dollars to the anti-choice, self-proclaimed “grassroot” Community Slate in an effort to decimate school choice in Douglas County and blacken the name of any candidate who dares advocate it. Ross’s op-ed expounds how “the [school board] race has been irrevocably altered in its final weeks” by these contributions.

After losing its collective bargaining agreement in Douglas County in 2012, the Colorado chapter of AFT needs to reinstitute itself in Douglas County to be relevant in Colorado. Electing a union friendly school board would help AFT avoid losses in membership, and capitalize on millions from a union contract.

I’m not sure why AFT so inflexibly opposes parents and students having choices in education, but I am sure of one thing; a donation of this size this late in the game means the union is unsure of or frightened by the political landscape it faces. The pro-school choice candidates, also known as Elevate Douglas County, have undoubtedly threatened AFT’s anti-choice agenda.