Charter School PAC’s White-Washed Endorsement Slate

Charter Schools Now PAC, the political action arm of the Texas Public Charter School Association, has made clear where their support lies this election cycle, and it isn’t reflective of the minority populations that most open enrollment charter schools serve. 

Charter Schools Now PAC’s latest ethics filing shows they received $787K during the last 3 months, including $100K from Educational Equity PAC, who list Houston philanthropist, John Arnold and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings as its sole donors. Both Arnold and Hastings are on the record as supporting charter schools because charter schools, they claim, deliver quality education to minority populations. If addressing the in access to education for minorities is of utmost importance to these high dollar donors, it begs the question, why did they give $100K to the Charter Schools Now PAC, who in turn endorsed few minority candidates.

The evidence is in their ethics report. Between July 5 and September 24, 2020, the PAC spent $270K to advance their pro-charter school agenda, most of it before the run-off election in July. Their contributions are telling the story of the PAC mostly supporting white candidates over minorities:

• Drew Springer: $5K
• Craig Goldman: $5K
• David Cook: $2.5K
• Jeff Cason: $2.5K
• Matt Krause: $5K
• Stephanie Klick: $5K
• Tony Tinderholt: $5K

In fact, out of the fifteen candidates the PAC listed on their report, only three are minorities, Rep, Harold Dutton, Senator Eddie Lucio and Texas House Candidate Liz Campos.

What gives, Texas Public Charter School Association, shouldn’t you be endorsing candidates that reflect and empower your target demographic, instead of white-washing the slate?