« Seattle Teachers Expand Testing Boycott
Jason Stanford: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Rhee »
Monica Ratliff for Los Angeles School Board
There is a big race in Los Angeles on May 21. It is a run-off that will determine who controls the board.
There are two candidates.
One–Monica Ratliff–is a working classroom teacher, the other worked on the staff of corporate-friendly Mayor Villaraigosa and has no education experience.
The teachers' union supported both candidates, hedging their bets.
The mayor's candidate has the support of the super-elite, the billionaires and their surrogates who don't like public education, disparage teachers, and defend the status quo. That candidate will have a campaign chest of at least $1 million. Mayor Bloomberg of New York City gave $350,000. Rhee gave $100,000. Eli Broad gave $250,000. More is on the way.
Monica Ratliff is Monica Ratliff. She is a teacher. She can't campaign during the day because she teaches.
She was raised in Arizona by a single mother from Mexico. Her dad was born in Ohio; he died when Monica was 13, the oldest of 3 kids. She got a National Hispanic Scholarship to attend Columbia University. After she graduated, she went to Columbia Law School.
After Monica finished law school, she worked for the NAACP as a public interest lawyer, helping poor people with their legal problems.
After working as a public interest lawyer, Monica decided to become a teacher. She earned a masters degree in education at UCLA and got a teaching job at San Pedro Elementary school, a high-poverty school. She has been teaching there for 11 years. She has taught 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. Her peers chose her as their union rep for UTLA. She recently was elected to the House of Reps of UTLA.
She ran for school board this spring. She spent $14,000 and got 34% of the vote. Her opponent accumulated $1.4 million and got 44% of the vote.
The third place finisher Maria Cano has endorsed Monica, as has the retired board member of the district, Julie Korenstein. So has current board member Bennett Kayser.
She has been endorsed by Republican Supervisor Mike Antonovich on the right and Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg on the left.
Monica is still in the classroom. She doesn't campaign between 7:30 am and 2:45 pm because she is teaching fifth grade.
The LA Times has endorsed her, because of her experience as a teacher, as has the LA Daily News.
Monica will be overwhelmingly outspent. She can win if friends of public education turn out to vote.
She needs our help.
If everyone who loves teachers sends Monica a gift of any size, she would be the best-funded candidate in the race. Send whatever you can afford.
Please help Monica Ratliff if you can.
Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles
paula hurdle says:
I agree, Monica Ratliff is the best candidate for the Board seat. We're all in and will support her through calls and precinct walking. Whatever funds we can raise will also be hers.
Ellen Lubic says:
Thank you Diane for this post.
thenextlevel2000 says:
Hi Diane – I know this post doesn't belong here – but I can't find out where to email you. I would suggest that anyone who cares about what is happening in education today watch this video. This was a presentation given two weeks ago in Tennessee…but mimics what is going on in every state, and is an eye-opening overview of the overthrow of public education:
If you have not seen this video, please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X0EFeH25bw&feature=youtu.be
This makes the battles taking place in states around standards, testing, teacher evaluation, etc. look like nothing more than a nuisance, a minor bump in the road, and a means to an end that has been pre-determined.
While fighting and making people aware locally is important, this issue goes so far beyond local issues. Maybe I am naive, but there are issues in here I would never have imagined would happen in our free country.
geauxteacher says:
I have presented at forums for tea party at the invitation of tea party supporters of public education. Agenda 21 may convince tea Partiers that CCSS is subversive but I believe it is more important to have the public understand the educational limitations of CCSAs and the effects of standardization in general. I urge Tea Partiers to stop the implication that teachers are "subversives." It is insulting and incorrect. There is no curriculum that will completely satisfy every person's political, religious or social agenda. It is a teacher's job to encourage and develop critical thing skills so that students can develop their own belief system. I begin all my conversations with Tea Party with this explanation and I believe it allows them to listen beyond their own narrow focus on Agenda 21.
I hope I didn't sound like I was implying that teachers are subversive. I never even heard of Agenda 21. As I said, call me naive – I'm a teacher and a parent, and sometimes you just go about your business of responding to kids that you don't get the big picture! I can't believe how "free thought" is being stamped out.
Who would have thought Pink Floyd was so aware. This is "The Wall" in action! We just need the kids to catch on and who knows what will happen.
teacherken says:
with Diane's blessing I have cross-posted this to Daily Kos to try to get the word out to as broad an audience as possible. If you have an account there you might want to recommend it. You can certainly tweet and share on Facebook and email the link for Diane's post to as many people as possible.
Thank you Ken…we must get the word out also that Monica is a Latina. The Latino community, many are SEIU members, may only be looking at the surname and choosing Sanchez over Ratliff. Please LA folks, remind people of Monica's childhood and upbringing, and how she succeeded in attending one of the best colleges in the US both for undergrad and law school. She is a woman who deserves the utmost respect and support…she is the genuine article and not a toadies for the Mayor.
here's the link to my Daily Kos posting
Rangoon78 says:
And where is labor in all this? It seems that , incredibly, her corporate reform opponent is garnering the lion's share, including the decision of the LA teacher union to support both candidates.
The hands of the union may be very dirty though:
"The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union is roiled over whether its officials made a private deal with a Board of Education candidate whom critics view as an ally of anti-labor forces.
The dispute centers on an alleged understanding worked out between candidate Antonio Sanchez and Gregg Solkovits, a union vice president. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Solkovits has said that Sanchez, if he wins, would let United Teachers Los Angeles choose his chief of staff…"
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sanchez-utla-20130425,0,1921204.story
And the SEIU has come out for Sanchez
"SEIU local 99 and the Los Angeles Federation of Labor are also running IEs (independent expenditures) for Sanchez. His opponent, teacher Monica Ratliff, currently enjoys no IE support."
http://laschoolreport.com/category/news/
Spelling "incredibly" bad.
George Buzzetti says:
Thank you Teacher Ken and Diane Ravich for this post on the importance of this race in LAUSD. Monica Ratliff is the "Real Deal." No one is 100% of what you want as that is impossible. However, this vote at the largest school district in the U.S. still controlled by a board of education vote is imperative. If Monica Ratliff is elected the three good board members will have the fourth vote. That means with Monica Garcia no longer able to be board president as a result of the vote by Zimmer the dynamics of the board completely change from the so-called "Reform Board" which is really the "Deform Board" to an "Educators Board." LAUSD would then have a 4-3 vote of educators three of whom are probably not seeking future office. Wouldn't that be interesting in turning things on their head. Please use "People Power" as that is all we have. They have "Corporate billionaires Power." The people are obliged to beat the billionaires for their children's and our societies future.
Her website is http://www.monicaratliff2013.com and email is monicaratliff2013@gmail.com. Help us stop the corporatist privatizers nationwide. By the way Parent Revolution is after another school, Euclid Elementary, with the same strong armed approach as at 24th Street. I got the call at midnight. We already have a plan.
Canadaphile says:
I am contributing to this great candidate who is fighting the corporate takeover of LAUSD. Her website is monicaratliff2013.com
Robert D. Skeels says:
As someone beat by the very same money that Ms. Ratliff faces, I provided the following endorsement:
At a time when the fate of public education hangs in the balance, the urgency of electing Monica Ratliff cannot be overstated. Ms. Ratliff left a lucrative law career in order to become an educator at a school that straddles the line between skid row and South Central Los Angeles. I can't think of a more honorable thing to do. Her choice to teach the most vulnerable is the epitome of the type of authentic reforms our district so desperately needs. Ratliff's experience and insight garnered from working with, rather than talking about, impoverished inner-city children provides a glimmer of hope for a district beholden to an incumbent board and Superintendent that has placed developer and corporate profits above the needs of students.
Her opponent, on the other hand, is a political opportunist supported by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Philip Anschutz, Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and Eli Broad. The millions of dollars these plutocrats have bestowed on Ratliff's opponent must be seen for what they really are — a shrewd business investment. A day after Rupert Murdoch announced his quarter million dollar contribution to Coalition for School Reform supported candidates, his firm Amplify announced a new education tablet product which he expects CSR backed candidates to purchase. Moreover, Ratliff's opponent has no experience in education, nor even a grasp of education policy. He sees LAUSD as a stepping stone to the California Assembly or City Hall.
We need a break from the LAUSD status quo of corporate giveaways and school privatization. We need a school board member who will prioritize pupils over profits. We need a woman who has dedicated her life to giving students the education they deserve. There's only one thing to remember for the May 21, 2013 District 6 General Election — Vote for the Teacher! Vote Monica Ratliff for Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education!