{"id":2711,"date":"2023-05-09T13:24:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T13:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=2711"},"modified":"2023-05-09T14:09:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T14:09:08","slug":"leftward-leaning-teacher-donations-play-large-role-in-school-choice-curriculum-transparency-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=2711","title":{"rendered":"Leftward Leaning Teacher Donations Play Large Role in School Choice & Curriculum Transparency Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/leftward-leaning-teacher-donations-play-large-role-in-school-choice-curriculum-transparency-debate\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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The News:\u00a0<\/strong>The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) released its newest policy report, \u201cChalkboards and Campaign Checks: Political Contributions of Wisconsin Teachers and Education Reform.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0By examining the state\u2019s campaign finance system, we found that the vast majority of donors who identified themselves as teachers have contributed to Democratic candidates and Democratic-affiliated organizations.<\/p>\n

The Quote:<\/strong>\u00a0WILL Research Director, Will Flanders, PhD, said \u201cTeachers have aligned strongly with one political party, and conservatives should place less concern about the public school sector\u2019s political opinions when doing what is best for Wisconsin\u2019s kids. Conservative candidates tip-toeing around school choice should consider the organized effort underway to sway their opinion.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why It Matters:<\/strong>\u00a0Politicians at every level must listen to their voters; but to get reelected, elected leaders think that they must make trade-offs between the desires of parents and wants of educators in their community. Political donations are an important measure of political engagement, ideology, and interest. The donations under study here are considered to be a reasonable proxy for the political opinions of teachers more widely in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line:<\/strong> WILL argues that policymakers considering complex issues such as expanding school choice and public school funding formulas must not ignore the opinions of teachers in their community. However, they should not vote against education reform solely in fear of losing the phantom support from this set of the voter base; nor should they spend more time and money trying to sway the teacher vote.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Key Findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n