Parents’ frustration trumping Big Union money in Superintendent of Public Instruction race?

This Nov., incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond may get the boot from local “parent advocate” Lance Christensen. California Globe’s Katy Grimes dives into why Christensen (with a modest budget/grassroots campaign) is even a contender against Thurmond, to whom CTA donated $2.2 million. Are parents’ demands for open, CRT-free schools slowly but surely overcoming teachers’unions’ agendas?

According to the California Secretary of State, Tony Thurmond currently has 2,872,094 votes, which is only 45.9% of the total votes – not enough to get him past the 50% mark to avoid the November election.

Lance Christensen has 742,400 votes, which is 11.9% of the total votes, and lands him in the second place slot, in California’s top-two Jungle Primary.

Christensen was one of 6 candidates to challenge Thurmond. The total votes for the 6 challengers is 3,382,254 – a significant number of votes to Thurmond’s 2,872,094.

And that is even after California’s largest teachers’ union, the California Teachers Association (CTA), contributed $2.2 million to Thurmond’s campaign the final three weeks leading up to the June 7th Primary Election Day.

[…]

Christensen spent less than $50,000 and was still elected as one of the top two, “because parents are out of their minds about education” in California right now.

He said when he first announced he would run for Superintendent of Public Instruction, it was so there was an actual choice for parents.

“Parents tell me ‘Thank you for at least challenging him,'” Christensen said. He traveled all across the state and met with parents and parent groups in big cities and small towns, rural and urban. “That’s the only reason I’d win,” Christensen said. “Our kids would still be suffering without reasonable opposition.”

This article originally appeared in the California Globe. Read the whole thing here.

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