In the only contested school board race in Memphis this year, the corporate charter behemoth lost. Stephanie Love, an incumbent who has advocated for public neighborhood schools and against the ASD, won over a candidate, Sharon Fields, who was funded by the charter industry. Love finished with almost 60 percent of the vote.
. . . .The single contested race mirrored several state races, as education reform groups, which often advocate for charter schools, took an interest at both the state and local level.
Fields is the office manager and family coordinator for the Libertas School of Memphis, a charter school under the state-run Achievement School District. She had received $5,000 donations each from two PACs, Education Reform Now Advocacy and Tennesseans for Putting Students First. Similar groups have also funded candidates running for state office who have ties to either charters or the ASD.
Although Love has children in both ASD and SCS schools, she has frequently spoken out against the state-run schools and has even advised parents not to send their kids to them. . . .
Citizens are finally aware that corporations want to profit from their children, and it is not is their best interest to trust them. They need to unite to defend public schools.
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