An executive from Teach For America has unseated the chair of the Metro School Board. Ellissa Kim received thousands of dollars in campaign funds from pro-charter-school groups on her way to beating out incumbent Gracie Porter.
Kim outraised Porter by more than 2-to-1, although the four-way contest came down to just a couple hundred votes. Porter also faced attacks from a union group that had backed her election six years ago. Even so, she says she put her “heart and soul” into campaigning to hold on to the seat.
Meanwhile Kim chalks up the win to months of effort – and not just her own:
“I think it’s a reflection of all the hard work that’s gone into this campaign, and the 150-plus people who have volunteered to knock on doors and write on postcards and make calls to ensure that we could pull out a win.”
Kim’s victory is seen as a boost for proponents of charter schools, which get public money but are run privately. Even so, Kim says they aren’t the only tool in the box:
“Whether they’re charters, magnets, traditional schools – we have examples of all of them. And I think the focus of the conversation needs to be, what differentiates those schools? What processes, the procedures, the structure that’s in place to make them successful, so that we can replicate those lessons elsewhere.”
The nine-member school board shifts with Porter’s defeat from five black members to three. Redistricting pitted two other black incumbents against each other.
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