EDUCATION Splits Democrats in Key Governor's Races

"In Key Governor's Races, Democrats Split on Education," Associated Press, June 3, '18

DENVER — A subterranean divide among Democrats between backers of teachers unions and those of charter schools and other education innovations is helping shape key gubernatorial primaries, even as red-meat issues like guns, inequality and President Donald Trump have dominated the races.
In California, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's campaign has been kept afloat partly by more than $20 million spent by a political committee funded by supporters of charter schools and other educational initiatives. In New York, actress Cynthia Nixon, a fierce critic of charter schools, is challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who's sparred with teachers unions.

The most public split comes in Colorado, where two Democrats with deep roots in education policy have come under attack by the state's biggest teachers union on behalf of the state's former treasurer, Cary Kennedy.
"It's a further signal of the Democratic party irrespective of these candidates, drifting pretty far to the left, where issues that used to be part of the Democratic mainstream become controversial," said Eric Sondermann, a nonpartisan political analyst in Colorado, adding that Trump and his controversial Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, had helped turn the party's base against so-called "reform" initiatives like charter schools and teacher evaluations. Still, there's a limit to the depth of the divide. Democratic candidates in all the races have embraced the cause of teachers who walked out this spring for better pay and more school funding, as well as urged an infusion of public money into education...

In California, where the divide may be the starkest, education barely came up in the lone televised debate and has not been a theme of advertising. But it has driven much of the political spending in the state.
Villaraigosa is furiously trying to secure a spot in the state's unusual primary on Tuesday, in which the top two vote-getters of any party face each other in November. He's been aided by $20 million in spending from a superPAC funded by charter school groups and their wealthy donors — including Netflix founder Reed Hastings and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Teachers unions have spent about $1.3 million supporting front-runner Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor, who has called for more state oversight of charter schools.
Villaraigosa angered teachers unions as mayor, when he took over several failing schools and was critical of the union, even telling the Los Angeles Times editorial board that his proposed reforms would require "a holy jihad" against the union. The money from education interests has helped keep Villaraigosa competitive in the state's nonpartisan primary, where the top two vote-getters advance to November's election, but he still risks finishing behind Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox.

The issue also hasn't been on the front-burner in New York, where Nixon has hammered Cuomo mainly over the New York City subways and broader issues of economic inequality. Cuomo himself has tacked left on education after angering teachers unions in 2015 with a proposal to make it easier to remove incompetent instructors. The prior year he gave his full-throated support to charter school advocates. In Colorado, where residents can apply to any school they choose and teachers unions have been relatively weak, Democratic candidates all talked about their plans to expand education -- Read More:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-key-governors-races-democrats-split-on-education/ar-AAyaOFX



- April 2018, Kerrie Dallman, left, president of the Colorado Education Association, jokes with Cary Kennedy, a candidate for the Democratic nomination to run for Colorado's governorship, during a teacher rally in Denver.





- Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in the race for Democratic candidate for governor 2018.



- Gavin Newsom Lieut. Governor of California, in the race for Democratic candidate for governor 2018.