Pro-charter school group spent $2.4 million to get a guy elected to a local school board
PACs spent $4.7 million to influence the Los Angeles Unified School Board election that was considered to be a showdown between union-backed candidates and pro-charter supporters, according to Education Week.
The winning candidate - Ref Rodriguez - benefited from $2.4 million that the California Charter Schools Association Advocates spent on the race, according to the Los Angeles Times.
That $2.4 million equates to roughly $107 a vote that Rodriguez received, according to Education Week. By comparison, presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign cost about $20 per vote including outside spending.
The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest school district in the US, after New York City.
While there was not a clean sweep for either side - charter advocates or unions - the charter movement did score a victory in Ref Rodriguez's win over incumbent Bennett Kayser. Rodriguez is active in the educational community, and co-founded an organization that operates charter schools in LA.
To the charter school group's $2.4 million campaign spending, the LA teachers union put more than $1 million into Kayser's campaign, the LA Times reported on Wednesday.
The battle between charter advocates and teachers unions who oppose the continued proliferation of charter schools has been building for some time. LA unified has more charter schools and more students enrolled at charters than any other district in the nation.
While the the funneling of PAC money into school board elections is pretty uncommon, it is becoming more prominent in local elections. PACs spent heavily in the Chicago mayoral election in April and in the Philadelphia mayoral race in May.
WE reached out to Rodriguez's campaign for comment and will update this post if we hear back.