A panel organized by Education Matters interviewed candidates for endorsing in the WCCUSD board race. They’ve now published the interview videos and the candidate submissions.
Process
Back in June, I mentioned that Education Matters (EM), the Chamberlin-backed education reform group for WCCUSD, was starting up their own endorsement process for WCCUSD board candidates. Here are the main points of their process:
- EM chooses a community panel to interview candidates.
- The panel interviews candidates.
- The panel uses a rubric to guide their decision about whom to endorse.
- Endorsees can receive up to $10,000 in seed money that would be contributed to their own PACs to spend as the candidate directs.
Steps 1 and 2 are done. (There were 2 sets of interviews, one in July, one in August.) Step 4 is up in the air, because the school board is considering campaign contribution limitations.
Who Came
- Antonio Alvarez Medrano
- Don Gosney
- Tom Panas
- Miriam Stephanie Sequeira
- Ayana Young
Who Didn’t Come
- Mister Phillips–Declined (He made a campaign promise earlier in the year to not accept campaign contributions from “school construction firms or charter school groups”.)
- Carlos Taboada–Didn’t respond
Videos and Answered Questionnaires
The embedded videos and links are all on this page:
Candidate Interviews & Questionnaires
Or you can go directly to the EM YouTube page for the video interviews.
September 10, 2016 — 2:08 pm
Thanks for straightening things out. It was hard to figure this out from your site.
Now it’s been a few weeks. Is there anything further to report on your process?
August 29, 2016 — 3:51 pm
Hi Charley,
Thanks for sharing this information. There are a few minor items I wanted to clarify, as some of the details here aren’t completely accurate:
Under “Process,†Step 4: Candidates who are deemed eligible (not “endorsees,†as candidates may receive seed funding but not receive an official endorsement down the road) may receive up seed funding. This would be a direct contribution to their campaign.
Under “Processâ€: Steps 1, 2 and 3 are done. Regarding step 4: The panel has voted on decisions, however, candidates who are eligible for seed funding have yet to make a decision about whether or not to accept the contributions. We are expecting an announcement in the next few weeks.
Let me know if you have any questions!