Campaigns for state school board are typically quiet affairs, eliciting only modest interest from the public and even less from political donors. But the race last fall for the District 2 seat on Louisiana鈥檚 board of elementary and secondary education was a remarkable exception.
The contest attracted the attention of education activists and politically connected individuals around the country鈥攁nd it unleashed a torrent of spending, which flowed overwhelmingly to one candidate: , the executive director of Teach For America of Greater New Orleans and a first-time office-seeker.
State records show that Ms. Orange Jones raised about $478,000 for her campaign, an amount that financially buried her main opponent, incumbent Louella Givens, who finished second to Ms. Orange Jones in an October primary and then lost to her in a November runoff. While most of Ms. Orange Jones鈥� contributors were from Louisiana, donations ranging from $5 to $10,000 came from individuals and organizations in at least two dozen other states.
National education advocacy organizations have made a determined push to shape the outcomes of elections in recent years, in some cases while battling teachers鈥� unions, and at least one such group鈥斺�攂acked Ms. Orange Jones, too. But her fundraising prowess also shows the rewards that come to candidates who can tap into broad and informal networks of individuals and education advocates, whose interests may be only tangentially related but who can bring considerable political and financial heft to a campaign.
Ms. Orange Jones, though only 33 years old, was able to capitalize on connections across the landscape of politics and education.
New York City-based DFER promoted her candidacy by email to its members. She also had the backing of a number of politically connected people with ties to Louisiana, such as Democratic strategist James Carville and former state school board member Leslie Jacobs, both of whom Ms. Orange Jones credits with nudging donors to help her.
鈥淚t was a multi-tiered approach,鈥� Ms. Orange Jones said in an interview. Her fundraising success, she said, stemmed from a 鈥渟trong local base鈥� and 鈥渓ongtime relationships鈥� with individuals and organizations across the country.
鈥淚 was able to leverage a lot of those networks,鈥� she explained, 鈥渁nd expand the net even further.鈥�
Ms. Givens, a two-term board member, had the backing of the state鈥檚 two major teachers鈥� unions, but raised only $9,000 and was outspent by a ratio of roughly 50-to-1. She says the influx of campaign cash, which paid for a wave of voter outreach on Ms. Orange Jones鈥� behalf, ultimately stifled any message the incumbent hoped to present to voters in the working-class electoral district, which includes part of New Orleans and communities west of the city.
鈥淚t made all the difference in the world,鈥� Ms. Givens said of the challenger鈥檚 campaign war chest. 鈥淪he was able to capitalize on the media blitz鈥� and 鈥渦se money to create a public persona, to influence the outcome of an election.鈥�
Pivotal Election
Seven of the eight elected positions on Louisiana鈥檚 11-member board of education were contested and on the ballot in 2011. The outcome of those races was expected to have major implications for education policy in the state, traditionally one of the nation鈥檚 lowest academic performers.
The elections were also closely watched by Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, who appoints three members of the state board and was counting on a newly reconstituted panel to select his preferred choice for state schools superintendent, John White. At the time, Mr. White, now the state chief, was leading the Recovery School District, a state-run school system composed of academically struggling schools, many of them in New Orleans.
$5,000 to $10,000
REED HASTINGS
CEO, Netflix, Inc.
ELI BROAD
Major education philanthropist, founder of Broad Foundation
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
Revocable Trust associated with New York City mayor
Not pictured
MATT WISDOM
CEO of TurboSquid, New Orleans-based 3D company
$1,000 to $4,999
WALTER ISAACSON
Author, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute
DAVID GERGEN
Harvard professor, political commentator
JAMES CARVILLE
Democratic political strategist
TOM BENSON
Owner, New Orleans Saints
Less than $1,000
WENDY KOPP
Teach For America founder and CEO
JASON KAMRAS
Chief of office of human capital, D.C. schools, former national Teacher of the Year
KAYA HENDERSON
Chancellor, District of Columbia schools
Not pictured
PRESTON SMITH
Co-founder, Rocketship 91制片厂视频, charter school network
SOURCE: Louisiana Board of Ethics
The governor endorsed six board candidates on the ballot. Though he did not officially back either Ms. Orange Jones or Ms. Givens, both of whom are Democrats, Ms. Orange Jones鈥� positions on education were widely regarded as more compatible with the governor鈥檚 than were those of Ms. Givens.
Mr. Jindal had vowed to press for big changes to the state鈥檚 education system鈥攍ast month he signed into law a statewide expansion of private school vouchers and restrictions on teacher tenure, among other changes. While the governor鈥檚 proposals required the approval of the GOP-controlled legislature, the state board has policymaking power, which includes a role in setting the school funding formula.
The elections were also cast as a referendum on the board鈥檚 efforts to improve schools statewide and in the RSD, which included promoting charter schools and granting schools greater autonomy. Ms. Orange Jones campaigned in support of many of those efforts. Ms. Givens was skeptical of some of them, arguing, for instance, that too much focus was being placed on charter school growth, with too little accountability to the public.
Ms. Givens received support in her campaign from the Louisiana Association of Educators and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers鈥攁ffiliates of the National 91制片厂视频 Association and the American Federation of Teachers, respectively鈥攚hich each contributed at least $2,000 to her re-election effort. She also lent her campaign at least $10,000, according to records from the Louisiana Board of Ethics, which oversees candidates鈥� financial reporting.
But the unions鈥� contributions were dwarfed by those flowing to Ms. Orange Jones, who harvested donations from the worlds of education, business, and philanthropy.
Contributors included many Louisianans and others with connections to the state, including Ms. Jacobs, who gave her campaign $10,000; Mr. Carville, who donated $1,000; and Tom Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints football team, who chipped in $2,000.
The lineup included out-of-state donors like Eli Broad, the founder of the Los Angeles-based Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and a major education philanthropist, who gave at least $5,000; Reed Hastings, the chief executive officer of Netflix Inc., and a former president of the California state board of education, who also contributed at least $5,000; Walter Isaacson, a best-selling biographer and the president of the Aspen Institute, a Washington think tank, who contributed $2,000; and David Gergen, a Harvard University professor, political commentator, and adviser to a number of presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who gave at least $2,500, campaign-finance records show.
Another prominent donor was the Michael Bloomberg Revocable Trust, which is associated with the New York City mayor and financial media magnate, which gave Ms. Orange Jones $10,000. (Mr. White, the Louisiana state chief, once worked for Mr. Bloomberg as a deputy chancellor of the New York City schools the mayor oversees.)
The size of the money flow came as a jolt to the teachers鈥� unions, which soon realized they would struggle to keep up.
鈥淚 had a conversation with my national union, and they said, 鈥榃e see Bloomberg鈥檚 giving money in that race. What in the hell is going on, and what鈥檚 the plan to win?鈥� 鈥� recalled Steve Monaghan, the president of the 21,000-member LFT. 鈥淭he kind of money being spent [was] enough to raise anyone鈥檚 eyebrows.鈥�
Ms. Givens鈥� chances also may have been hurt by other factors. She was arrested early last year on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, a case that is still moving through the courts; there was also a New Orleans Times-Picayune report that the Internal Revenue Service had placed a lien on her property for unpaid taxes. Ms. Givens did not respond to 91制片厂视频 Week for comment on those issues, but last fall she said publicly she was fighting the DWI charge and disputed the IRS report.
The money flow and the overall attention paid to the full slate of board elections were especially surprising, given the panel鈥檚 long-standing reputation as a political 鈥渂ackwater,鈥� said Pearson Cross, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Board members serve four-year, unpaid terms.
But he said the scope of those campaigns also underscored the board鈥檚 potential to hinder, or support, Gov. Jindal鈥檚 vision for schools.
The governor needed to 鈥渕ake sure the pieces were in place to pass his education agenda,鈥� Mr. Cross said, so that 鈥渉is changes got implemented.鈥�
Making Connections
Ms. Orange Jones said no single network triggered her success in fundraising. She credited Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Carville, among others, with marshaling political and financial support for her campaign. She said she knew some of her donors through Teach For America, where she once worked as a teacher and now has a leadership role. (Mr. Gergen is a member of TFA鈥檚 board.) She said other contributors knew her through the Aspen Institute鈥擬r. Isaacson鈥檚 group鈥攚here she was a fellow. Others were personal friends, a description that applied to Mr. Hastings, a spokesman for the Netflix CEO said.
Those contributions, and others, helped Ms. Orange Jones pay for political consultants, advertising, mailings, phone banks, signs, pushcards, lapel stickers, and other outreach, state records show. Ms. Givens鈥� campaign, by contrast, was able to spend only a small fraction of that amount on such efforts.
In an Oct. 22 primary, Ms. Orange Jones finished first in a four-person race, about 8 percentage points ahead of Ms. Givens, who took second. Because no candidate won 50 percent of the vote, the election went to a runoff, and on Nov. 19, Ms. Orange Jones coasted to victory with 57 percent of the vote, to Ms. Givens鈥� 43 percent. Some 55,000 votes were cast.
Five of the six candidates endorsed by Gov. Jindal won their races, and those political victories seem to have paid dividends.
In January, the board of education voted 9-1, with one abstention, to approve Mr. White鈥檚 appointment as superintendent, with Ms. Orange Jones backing the selection. In February, the board approved a change to the state鈥檚 school funding formula to include support for an ambitious public and private school choice system, presaging the legislature鈥檚 passage this spring of the choice law championed by Mr. Jindal.
Both Ms. Orange Jones and her opponent acknowledge the role that the first-time candidate鈥檚 fundraising played in the race. But they disagree on what Ms. Orange Jones鈥� success in that area revealed about her campaign, and whether she played the role of the underdog, or the behemoth.
Ms. Givens said that even attempting to keep pace with her opponent鈥檚 spending would have required asking residents of her district, many of them impoverished, for donations.
鈥淢y constituents are recovering from Hurricane Katrina. It鈥檚 difficult to raise money among people who don鈥檛 have money,鈥� Ms. Givens said. Ultimately, she said, the race left the board with 鈥渙ne less voice who questioned the so-called reform measures coming before us.鈥�
But Ms. Orange Jones said aggressive fundraising was necessary to overcome the power of Ms. Givens鈥� incumbency, and the strength of the teachers鈥� unions.
鈥淚 was running against an institutional system,鈥� Ms. Orange Jones said. 鈥淚 was running against a machine. I had no name recognition. I had to be aggressive in getting my name out.鈥�
Pointing to her final margin of victory, she said of her New Orleans-area constituents: 鈥淭here was a clear mandate. The reality is that the majority of people in this city wanted this change.鈥�
