While Oakland parents and our community have decried out-of-town Billionaires spending big in our school board races, including former Republican Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, the Super PAC that received the contribution, and the candidates benefiting from it, have not.

In fact:

• The Board Chair of GO Public Schools Advocates, the Super PAC that received Bloomberg’s $300,000 said the organization is “proud” to have received the contribution.
•  Jumoke Hinton-Hodge, who has benefited from GO’s Super PAC spending to the tune of $45,856, told the East Bay Times that she and GO’s Billionaire donors “have similar values.”
• GO-endorsed candidates James Harris & Huber Trenado, who have benefited from Bloomberg and other big-money contributions from GO’s Super PAC at current totals of $85,434 and $65,568 respectively, have claimed no knowledge of the spending. However, they also haven’t denounced this big money, or the agenda it brings to Oakland.

So, this begs the question: what are Michael Bloomberg’s values?

• Nearly 140 schools were closed, including many that had been opened during his tenure.
• Only 13% of students of color graduated from high school ready for college (according to NY Department of Education data).
• Mayor Bloomberg famously declared that doubling class sizes “would be a good deal for students”.
• Bloomberg also disparaged parents who were protesting the closure of their children’s school as lacking in formal schooling and therefore unable to “understand the value of education“.

Are these education policies that GO is proud of and Director Hinton-Hodge shares? Will James Harris or Huber Trenado denounce them?