In part 1 of this series on 2020 campaign donations and DC education, I examined how DC elected and appointed officials, as well as some common education reform donors and DC education leaders, have donated to candidates in this election cycle.

This post, the second of three parts of this series, outlines financial support to the 2020 candidates who I determined are receiving the most donor attention from ed reform, charter school, and school privatizing interests.

Several things became clearer to me in this analysis:

–Ed reform, charter, and school privatizing interests appear to target preferred candidates for donations. By my analysis, at large council candidate Christina Henderson is by far the most favored candidate for that purpose in this election cycle—followed by at large state board candidate Jacque Patterson and at large council member Robert White.

–Many education leaders in DC (elected and appointed, past and present) appear to have overlapping donor interest with ed reform and school privatizing interests.

–Despite the bar on large money donations in DC’s publicly financed campaign system, one publicly financed candidate (Christina Henderson) received relatively large amounts of money and support from ed reform interests. In fact, the sheer money and power behind the numbers of wealthy and powerful ed reform, charter, and school privatizing donors and organizations listed herein (most especially for Henderson, Patterson, and Robert White) appears to rally against the intent of public campaign financing. (It is, after all, difficult to level the playing field if you manage to effectively obliterate it.)

Because the power of ed reform interests in campaign financing is not often clearly articulated as it relates to DC public education and its governance, the third part of this series will expand and cross-list donors and their connections to ed reform, privatizing, and charter interests and organizations–and the amounts of money that those groups have access to and represent.

As with part 1 of this series, I used campaign finance records dating from October 10, 2020. For all these posts, I am indebted to Keith Ivey and the fantastic public service he provided, in creating a searchable database for publicly financed campaign data, which is publicly available but not (currently) searchable in its publicly provided format. Here is a link to Ivey’s searchable compilation of donations in publicly financed campaigns, as of October 10, 2020. (Be sure to also visit Ivey’s great website to examine how each candidate’s fundraising reflects local donors.)

As before, all mistakes, omissions, and other errors here are mine—please let me know if you see any.

Immediately below, I have listed candidates in order of what I have approximated is the extent of ed reform/charter/school privatizing support they have garnered (by number of donors, not money, since dollar limits vary according to campaign financing and office sought). An asterisk denotes candidates who have used public financing. Information about those candidates, and specific donors, is below that.

*Christina Henderson, at large council
Jacque Patterson, at large state board
Robert White, at large council
*Monica Palacio, at large council
Vincent Gray, Ward 7 council
Marcus Goodwin, at large council
*Ed Lazere, at large council
*Eboni-Rose Thompson, Ward 7 state board
LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board
*Markus Batchelor, at large council
*Trayon White, Ward 8 council

Christina Henderson Donors

Henderson not only appears to have the most support of ed reform, school privatizing, and charter interests in DC, but she also garnered donations from lots of U.S. Senate colleagues. She also has a fair number of donations from DC council staffers, including ones who work on education issues. I was able to count only 3 DCPS staff donors.

It’s fair to say that Henderson’s former position as the director of the DC council education committee under outgoing committee co-chair and at large council member David Grosso has been a likely factor in support by political actors.

In fact, Henderson’s donors here read like a list of who’s who in education leadership, ed reform, and education privatizing circles in DC (which appear to have a lot of overlap). The sheer amount of money they gave, along with the millions of dollars held by the organizations they work for, represent a large investment in education privatization directed toward one DC candidate. If Henderson wins, one should expect her to be an ally of every charter and ed reform interest in the city.

Kaya Henderson, former DCPS chancellor with education org. called Teach for All, $100
Faith Gibson Hubbard, former chief student advocate, $100
Jennifer Niles, former deputy mayor for education and now current staffer for CityBridge, $100
Abigail Smith, former deputy mayor for education, board member of Education Forward, trustee of EL Haynes charter school, $100
Ahnna Smith, former acting deputy mayor for education, $100
Jessica Giles, former council staffer, current Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) DC staff, $100
Akeem Anderson, director of council education committee, $100
LeKisha Jordan, education staffer for council chair Mendelson, $25
Jack (William) McCarthy, head of Appletree, $100
Arent Fox employees (Arent Fox does lobbying for DC charters): Brandi Howard, $100; Jon Bouker, $100; Danielle Bulger, $25
Tommy Wells, former Ward 6 council member and current director of DOEE, $100
Tomeika Bowden, charter board communications, $100
Scott Pearson, former exec. dir of the charter board, $100
Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1 council member, $100
David Grosso, outgoing at large council member, $100
Natalie Gordon, former DCPS staff and head of Attuned Education, $50
Bellwether Education Partners employees (ed reform firm): Sara Mead, former charter board member, $100; Eleisha Nelson, $100; Victor Reinoso, former deputy mayor for education, $100
Shereen Williams, Education Board Partners, $50
Catharine Bellinger, formerly of DFER DC, now IDEA, $100
PAVE employees: Maya Martin, exec. dir., $100; Kerry Savage, policy director, $50
James Cadogan, Maya Martin’s husband and employee of Arnold Ventures, which invests in charter schools, board member at Statesmen charter school, $100
Justin Bakewell, Rocketship board member, $100
Jessica Sutter, Ward 6 state board rep, $25
Laura Wilson Phelan, head of Kindred, formerly of Flamboyan, $100
Mary Lord, former state board rep., $70
Lea Crusey, charter board member, $100
Naomi Shelton, charter board member and KIPP Foundation employee, $100
Maura Marino, CEO of Education Forward, board member of DC Prep, Ingenuity Prep, DC Charter School Alliance, and manager at HR firm TriNet, $100

Sujata Bhat, Education Forward DC, $48
Margery Yeager, Education Forward DC, $100
Angela Christophe, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, $100
Laura McSorley, RaiseDC, $50
Tom McSorley, Laura’s husband and former TFA, $50
Shayna Cook, Bainum Family Foundation (supports charters), $100
Anne Robinson, Building Pathways (charter support org,), $50
Katherine Bradley, Citybridge, $100
Shannon Hodge, exec. dir. of DC Charter School Alliance, $25
Hilary Darilek, head of EL Haynes, $100
Joe Smith, head of Eagle Academy, $100
Kate Frades, Education First, $100
Josh Boots, head of EmpowerK12, $100
Kristin Ehrgood, Flamboyan, $100
Anna Gregory, KIPP, $100
Ben Bennett, Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), $100
Simmons Lettre, founder of Education Board Partners, $100
Peter Anderson, head of Washington Latin, $100
Sara Batterton, board member Digital Pioneers, $100
LeRoy Eakin, developer, DFER donor, supporter of Citybridge, chair DC Prep board, $100
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $100
Mikaela Seligman, Mundo Verde board member and exec. dir. of AchieveMission, $100
Shantelle Wright, founder of Achievement Prep, $100
Aaron Myers, Aspen Institute (charter support and ed reform), $100
Eugene Pinkard, former DCPS admin currently at Aspen, $25
Richard Pohlman, former exec. dir. Thurgood Marshall charter school, $100
Jack Jacobson, Ward 2 state board, $50

Henderson herself donated to Ward 7 state board candidate Eboni-Rose Thompson ($20) and Ward 8 state board candidate Carlene Reid ($20).

Jacque Patterson Donors

The fact that Patterson is second in this donor analysis to an at large council candidate is extraordinary, as he is running for a position with little actual authority, with his only other previous elected position having been in a Ward 8 ANC. His fundraising has also been incredible, along the lines of what he brought in during his run for the same position in 2016.

Clearly, Patterson is much loved by well-heeled ed reform interests—though I also counted 11 DCPS teachers who donated to Patterson, plus many more from KIPP along with Rocketship personnel. (Patterson worked for Rocketship and currently works for KIPP.)

Indeed, excluding Naomi Shelton (who works for the KIPP Foundation), I counted 26 KIPP DC personnel giving Patterson donations (including himself), amounting to more than $1800. Given that KIPP DC has about 7000 students, that amounts to almost 25 cents per KIPP DC student donated to one (KIPP) candidate by KIPP staff alone. Donations to Patterson from Rocketship associates appeared to amount to more than $700.

Anna Gregory, chief talent officer KIPP, $200
Brandon Best, director of engagement KIPP, $70
Elizabeth Striebel, managing director KIPP, $50
Jean-Claude Brizard, Gates Foundation privatizer, $100
Jennifer Niles, Citybridge and former deputy mayor for education, $100
Laura Kozel, Rocketship VP, $100
Mashea Ashton, founder of Digital Pioneers, $250
Mekia Love, deputy chief academic officer KIPP, $35
Sommer Wynn, KIPP principal, $25
Izabela Miller, Friendship teacher & former Amidon Bowen principal, $225
Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, DC Prep chief of external affairs, $100
Aaron Cuny, cofounder of Ingenuity Prep, $50
Lea Crusey, charter board member, $100
Naomi Shelton, charter board member and KIPP Foundation employee, $250
Scott Pearson, former exec. dir. charter board, $500
Tomeika Bowden, charter board communications, $100
Darren Woodruff, former charter board member, $50
Brandon Todd, Ward 4 council member, $200
Faith Gibson Hubbard, former chief student advocate, $25
Joyanna Smith, former ombudsman, now Rocketship staffer, $100
Maya Martin, PAVE exec. dir., $100
Tom McSorley, husband of RaiseDC head Laura McSorley, $100
Shawn Hardnett, Statesmen charter school founder, $150
Shayna Hammond, Digital Pioneers board, $50
Katherine Bradley, Citybridge, $500
Mieka Wick, Citybridge CEO, $25
Terry Golden, KIPP board chair, $500
Michael Musante, lobbyist at DC Charter School Alliance, $100
Patricia Brantley, head of Friendship, $200
Jon Bouker, Arent Fox lobbyist, $50
Margery Yeager, Education Forward, $50
Dane Anderson, KIPP exec., $50
LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board candidate, $25
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $250
Stanley & Jolene (Joey) Sloter, Citybridge supporters, $100 (Stanley); $500 (Jolene); $100 (daughter Kelsey)
Shantelle Wright, founder of Achievement Prep, $50
Eric Paisner, COO for National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, $25
Ahnna Smith, former acting deputy mayor for education, $50
Ramin Taheri, DFER DC, $100
Jessica Giles, DFER DC, $100
Jack Jacobson, Ward 2 state board rep, $25
Jessica Sutter, Ward 6 state board rep, $50
Markus Batchelor, Ward 8 state board rep. and at large council candidate, $25
Laura Wilson Phelan, head of Kindred, formerly of Flamboyan, $100
Ramona Edelin, DC Association of Chartered Public Schools, $50

Peter Anderson, head of Washington Latin, $100

Maura Marino, CEO of Education Forward, $100

Patterson himself gave to the following, while he, his wife and daughter gave to his own campaign:

At large council candidate Robert White, $25
Ward 8 state board candidate LaJoy Johnson-Law, $25
At large council candidate Marcus Goodwin, $20
At large council candidate Markus Batchelor, $75

Robert White Donors

As of October 10, White had a total of about $365K in donations, including donations from teachers at DCPS, private, and charter schools. (I counted 7 DCPS staff donors.) More than 150 donors had given $1000, the maximum allowed. Many donations came in the fall of 2019, before there was a rumor that the DC council education committee would no longer exist and be subsumed into the committee of the whole. With David Grosso announcing he would not run for his seat again, and thus his departure from chairing that committee, it seemed as if White would have been the natural successor as chair. It is unclear what committees White will serve on if re-elected.

Margery Yeager, Education Forward, $1000
Christopher Chambers, former DFER board member, $100
Zachary Parker, Ward 5 state board, $50
Jacque Patterson, at large state board candidate and KIPP employee, $25
David Whitehead, LEE, $20
LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board candidate, $10
Sandra Brown, Academy of Hope teacher, $100
Donald Hense, head of Friendship, $1000
Vanessa Spinner, exec. dir. Community College Prep, $1000
Cherrelle Swain, Citybridge, $75
Terence Golden, board chair KIPP, $1000
Joe Bruno, Building Hope, $1000
Norm Glasgow, charter and Citybridge supporter, $1000
Joan Glasgow, wife of Norm, $250
Darrin Glymph, Friendship board member and charter school financier, $1000
HyeSook Chung, former director DC Action for Children, $1000
Sekou Biddle, DC Charter School Alliance board, $250
Anne Robinson, Building Pathways, $250
Antwanye Ford, chancellor selection panel member, head of a private IT firm that does work for DC, former board member of Washington Mathematics, Science and Technology charter high school, $1000
Arent Fox, charter lobbying, $1000
Jon Bouker, Arent Fox charter lobbyist, $500
Arent employees: Oliver Spurgeon $250; Philip English, $250; Craig Engle $100
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $1000
Tiffini Greene, wife of Brett Greene, $1000
Frazier O’Leary, Ward 4 state board rep., $200
Faith Gibson Hubbard, former chief student advocate, $100
Tom McSorley, husband of RaiseDC’s head Laura McSorley, $100
Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5 council member, $51
Emily Gasoi, Ward 1 state board rep., $50
Serena Hayes, ombudsman for education, $100
David Catania, former at large council member, $1000
Ruth Wattenberg, Ward 3 state board rep., $150
Joe Weedon, WTU spokesperson, $50
Mary Lord, former state board, $50
Hector Torres, Carlos Rosario board, $500
Jair Lynch, developer and charter supporter, $500
Lori Kaplan, head of LAYC, $50
Marullus Williams, his org. received OSSE funds, associated with Digital Pioneers, $1000
Michael Akin, Reingold and RaiseDC board, $100

White himself gave $20 to Ward 4 state board rep. Frazier O’Leary.

Monica Palacio Donors

The main hallmark of Palacio’s donors regarding education seems to be deep support from several charter schools—but not really many of the bread and butter DC ed reform donors that lavished support on Henderson, Patterson, and Robert White. I could not find anyone Palacio donated to; I recorded that 12 DCPS staff gave to her campaign.

Ramona Edelin, DC Association of Chartered Public Schools, $100
Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1 council member, $50
Jessica Giles, DFER DC, $25
Shawn Hardnett, Statesmen charter school founder, $100
Sekou Biddle, DC Charter School Alliance board, $25

The folks at Carlos Rosario seemed to go all in for Monica Palacio:

Patricia Sosa, board member, $100
Margaret Yao, board member, $25
Mark Kokkoros, admin., $100 (husband of the head of school)
Alejandra Amaroli, communications, $25
Julio Haddock, advisor, $100
Dinora Padrino-Lempos, teacher, $25
Nancy Villalba, payroll clerk, $10
Susan Espinoza, teacher, $100
Hector Torres, board member, $100
Sonia Gutierrez, founder, $100

The folks at Mundo Verde also seemed all in for Palacio:

Dahlia Aquilar, $100, admin
Sandra Algarra, $100, teacher
Stephanie Calderon, $25, teacher
Naomi Fortis, $25, principal
Giselle Gilpin, $10, principal
Jennifer Kouakeu, $25, teacher
Robyn Pretlow, $25, admin
Rocio Yoc, $50 role unknown
Kevin Thibault, $50 teacher
Rodrigo Salgado, $25, data director
Kristin Scotchmer, $30, exec dir.

Ditto for 6 folks at LAYC:

Patricia Bravo, $100, COO
Lupi Grady, $100, president and CEO
Elizabeth Burrell, $100, board co-chair
Martha Sanchez, educator, $100
Lori Kaplan, LAYC, $100
Millie Perez, staffer, $25

Vincent Gray Donors

As of October 10, Gray had about $207K in donations, with more than 300 donors giving $500. I counted few teachers from anywhere donating–and no DCPS staff donors. Part of this (relatively) small support may be due to the fact that he has no challenger on the ballot for the seat he currently holds and is running again for. I could find no one he donated to, either.

Joyanna Smith, former education ombudsman, now Rocketship staffer, $100
Erika Bryant, exec. dir. Elsie Whitlow Stokes, $100
Scott Pearson, former exec. dir. charter board, $1000
Patricia Brantley, Friendship head, $500
Connie Spinner, exec. dir. Community College Prep, $500
Ray Weeden, DC Prep staff and Statesmen board member, $500
Peter Anderson, Washington Latin principal, $500
Arent Fox, charter lobbyists, $500
Justin Rydstrom, exec. dir. IDEA, $1000
Jessica Rydstrom, Justin’s wife, $500
Margery Yeager, Education Forward, $500
Norm Glasgow, charter and Citybridge supporter, $500
Jolene (Joey) Sloter, supporter of Citybridge, $250
Trinet, employer of Maura Marino, CEO of Education Forward, $500
Tomeika Bowden, communications charter board, $500
David Catania, former at large council member, $500
DFER DC staff: Ramin Taheri, $100; Jessica Giles, $500; Erika Harrell, husband donated $250
Mashea Ashton, Digital Pioneers founder, $500
Jack (William) McCarthy, Appletree, $500
Matt Downs, Appletree board member, $500
Hector Torres, Carlos Rosario board member, $300
Katherine Bradley, Citybridge, $500
David Bradley, Katherine’s husband, $500
Darrin Glymph, Friendship board member and charter school financier, $500
Terry Golden, board chair KIPP, $250
Michael Musante, lobbyist at DC Charter School Alliance, $500
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $500
Marc Battle, former Ingenuity Prep board member, $250
Mary Lord, former state board, $10
Mark Jones, former state board, $500

Marcus Goodwin Donors

As of October 10, 2020, I counted about 370K in total donations for Marcus Goodwin, with more than 130 donors each contributing $1000, the maximum allowed. Among the donors there appeared to be lots of developers and builders. I also counted about 8 DCPS staff (including donations from what appeared to be his mother).

Katherine Bradley, Citybridge, $1000
Carter Bradley, son of Katherine, $1000
Spencer Bradley, son of Katherine, $1000
Cherrelle Swain, Citybridge, $100
LeRoy Eakin, developer, DFER donor, supporter of Citybridge, chair DC Prep board, $1000
Anthony Dale, LEE, $250
Jax Chaudry, Success Academy, $100
Margery Yeager, Education Forward, $100
Zachary Parker, Ward 5 state board rep., $100
Amanda Kramer Borden, School Leader Lab, $10
Shannon Hodge, exec. dir. of DC Charter School Alliance, $25
Catharine Bellinger, former DFER DC, now at IDEA, $100
Shakira Hemphill, Friendship admin,, $50
Arent Fox, charter lobbyists, $500, along with donations from staffers Craig Engle, $500; and Warren Seay, $500
Justin Bakewell, Rocketship board member, $100
Scott Pearson, former exec. dir. charter board, $1000
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $250
Shawn Hardnett, Statesmen charter school founder, $100
Jacque Patterson, at large state board candidate, $20
Patricia Stonesifer, RaiseDC funder, $1000
Charlene Drew Jarvis, KIPP board member, $100 (Drew’s son also gave $1000)
Jair Lynch, developer and charter supporter, $500

Goodwin himself gave $20 to Ward 7 state board candidate Eboni-Rose Thompson and $50 to Janeese Lewis George, Ward 4 council candidate.

Ed Lazere Donors

I saw donors from DCPS, private, and charter schools. I also saw plenty of support from the current state board and not a lot of support from donors with direct ties to charter schools. I counted 19 DCPS staff donors.

Scott Pearson, former exec. dir. charter board, $100
Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1 council member, $100
Elissa Silverman, at large council member, $100
Karl Racine, attorney general, $100
Eboni-Rose Thompson, Ward 7 state board candidate, $20
Joelle Deleveaux, Citybridge manager, $10
Ruquiyah Abu-Anbar, DC Action for Children, $50
Anthony Dale, LEE, $100
David Whitehead, LEE, $100
Amy Dudas, RaiseDC, $50
Laura McSorley, RaiseDC, $100
Tom McSorley, Laura’s husband and former TFA, $100
Maya Martin, PAVE exec. dir., $100
James Cadogan, Martin’s husband at Arnold Ventures and former TFA, $100
Julie Klingenstein, part of family foundation that has supported DC charters, husband is part of education software company LearnZillion, used by DCPS and also supported by Citybridge, $50
Emily Gasoi, Ward 1 state board rep., $50
Zachary Parker, Ward 5 state board rep., $100
Karen Williams, Ward 7 state board rep., $100
Laura Wilson Phelan, Kindred, formerly with Flamboyan, $100
LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board candidate, $10
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $100
Victor Reinoso, former deputy mayor for education, now with Bellwether Education Partners, $100
Matthew Deferranti, EdTrust lobbyist, $100
Nicola (Nicky) Goren, chancellor selection committee & Meyer Foundation (charter supporter), $100

Lazere himself gave the following:

$50 to Janeese Lewis George, Ward 4 council candidate
$20 to Karen Williams, Ward 7 state board rep.
$50 to Mysiki Valentine, at large state board candidate
$100 to LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board candidate

Eboni-Rose Thompson Donors

What stuck out for me was not direct monetary influence on Thompson herself, but the wide variety of people donating to her, which was rather unusual compared to other candidates.

For instance, in addition to the ed reform, school privatizing, and DC leaders listed below, I recognized parents who do not have paid positions in education but are nonetheless education advocates themselves. I counted 26 DCPS staff who donated. Such support appears mirrored in the variety of candidates who have also given Thompson donations. I could not find anyone Thompson donated to.

Abigail Smith, former deputy mayor for education, board member of Education Forward, trustee of EL Haynes charter school, $20
Marcus Goodwin, at large council candidate, $20
Mary Levy, DCPS budget analyst, $20
Mysiki Valentine, at large state board candidate, $20
Emily Gasoi, Ward 1 state board rep., $20
Markus Batchelor, Ward 8 state board rep. and at large council candidate, $20
Janeese Lewis George, Ward 4 council candidate, $20
Mary Filardo, 21st Century School Fund, $20
Brandon Lewis, Bellwether Education Partners, $20
Naomi Shelton, charter board, $20
Michael Buman, LEE, $20
Ben Bennett, LEE, $20
Matthew Hanson, DC Action for Children, $20
Nicole Newman, charter board communications, $20
Faith Gibson Hubbard, former chief student advocate, $20
Trayon White, Ward 8 council member, $20
Joe Weedon, WTU spokesperson, $20
Laura McSorley, RaiseDC, $20
Tom McSorley, Laura’s husband, $20
Mashea Ashton, Digital Pioneers, $20
Shantelle Wright, Achievement Prep, $20
Maura Marino, CEO of Education Forward, board member of DC Prep, Ingenuity Prep, DC Charter School Alliance, and manager at HR firm for charter schools, TriNet, $20

LaJoy Johnson-Law Donors

I counted 10 Rocketship associates giving her funds (she is a parent at the school), but only 1 DCPS staff donor.

Rena Johnson, Citybridge, $50
Elizabeth Davis, WTU head, $100
Zakia Sackor, Kindred, $50
Melissa Martin, School Leader Lab, $25
Mashea Ashton, head of Digital Pioneers $200
Catharine Bellinger, formerly DFER DC, now IDEA, $100
Justin Bakewell, Rocketship board member, $200
Maura Marino, CEO of Education Forward, board member of DC Prep, Ingenuity Prep, DC Charter School Alliance, and manager at HR firm for charter schools, TriNet, $100
Jacque Patterson, at large state board candidate and KIPP staffer, $25
Irene Holtzman, former director of FOCUS, $25
Laura Wilson Phelan, head of Kindred, formerly of Flamboyan, $100
Jack Jacobson, Ward 2 state board rep., $25
Jessica Sutter, Ward 6 state board rep., $50
Ben Bennett, LEE, $50
David Whitehead, LEE, $50
Margery Yeager, Education Forward DC, $200
Jolene (Joey) Sloter, supporter of Citybridge, $200
Jennifer Niles, former deputy mayor for education and now staffer for CityBridge, $200
Faith Gibson Hubbard, former chief student advocate, $25
David Grosso, at large council member, $50

Joyanna Smith, former education ombudsman, now Rocketship staffer, $100

PAVE staff also gave to Johnson-Law:

Kerry Savage $100
Maya Martin $200
Kevin Waller $50

I also counted lots of otherwise unidentified donors, including at large council candidate Ed Lazere ($100) and Johnson-Law herself.

Johnson-Law also gave $10 to at large council member Robert White; $25 to at large state board candidate Jacque Patterson; $10 to at large council candidate Ed Lazere; $10 to at large council candidate Markus Batchelor.

Markus Batchelor Donors

Batchelor’s state board of education colleagues (present, past, and possibly future) appear to have turned out for him, while he also had a smattering of support from a few staffers at the American Federation of Teachers and parents I recognized, who are unpaid education advocates in DC. I also counted 25 DCPS staff donating. To some degree (possibly like Thompson, whose support from DCPS staff seemed equally deep), Batchelor may straddle education worlds with his donors.

Katherine Bradley, Citybridge, $100
Elizabeth Davis, WTU, $200
Trayon White, Ward 8 council member, $75
Emily Gasoi, Ward 1 state board rep., $100
Ruth Wattenberg, Ward 3 state board rep., $100
Frazier O’Leary, Ward 4 state board rep., $100 (along with a relative who also gave $100)
Zachary Parker, Ward 5 state board rep., $100
Jessica Sutter, Ward 6 state board rep., $25
Joe Weedon, WTU spokesperson, $75 (his wife gave $50)
Laura Slover, CenterPoint Education, $96
Mary Lord, former state board, $100
LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8 state board candidate, $10
Jacque Patterson, at large state board candidate, $75
Michael Akin, Reingold and RaiseDC board, $100
Richard Pohlman, former exec. dir. Thurgood Marshall charter school, $100
Amelia Bell, EdOps, $60
Janeese Lewis George, Ward 4 council candidate, $50

Batchelor himself donated $25 to at large state board candidate Jacque Patterson; $25 to Ward 8 council member Trayon White; $25 to at large state board candidate Mysiki Valentine; $20 to Ward 7 state board candidate Eboni-Rose Thompson; and $20 to Ward 4 state board rep. Frazier O’Leary.

Trayon White Donors

Among White’s donors, I counted 8 DCPS staff and a few charter staffers. White himself donated to Ward 7 state board candidate Eboni-Rose Thompson ($20) and at large council candidate Markus Batchelor ($75). This short list may represent someone not entirely beloved of (or beholden to) education interests in general–or merely someone who is assured of getting re-elected without much ado.

Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5 council member, $50
Janeese Lewis George, Ward 4 council candidate, $25
Karl Racine, attorney general, $50
Markus Batchelor, Ward 8 state board rep. and at large council candidate, $25
Brett Greene, American Management Corporation & charter supporter, $50
Elissa Silverman, at large council member, $50
Nicole Newman, community engagement, charter board, $50
Mark Jones, former state board, $50
Debbi Jarvis, daughter in law of Charlene Drew Jarvis, KIPP board member, $50

Stay tuned for the third part of this series, on the charter, ed reform, and school privatizing donors themselves and their interests.