Parents United was founded in 2014 as a network of Oakland Unified parents who believe deeply in strong, equitable public schools supported by excellent teachers and staff who are paid what they deserve and who can collectively organize to ensure our schools support ALL of our students, not just those who attend schools with PTA funds to spare. We have worked with thousands of parents over the years in schools in North, East and West Oakland, supporting their fight for equitable resourcing and against threatened closures and co-locations that have decimated neighborhoods and harmed our most vulnerable students. Since 2016, we have exposed the Billionaires backing pro-privatization candidates with their millions of dollars poured into misleadingly named PACs, and that is true to today where “Parents” and “Empower” provide cover for anti-union billionaire influence.
The “Oakland Parents for Quality Education” and “EmpowerOak” PACS are related, billionaire funded entities that want to close schools and cause further harm to the students and families we work with. They are not “grassroots” and they don’t represent the majority of Oakland parents. When the Parents PAC enlisted a charter school student to send emails to OUSD principals to ask them to help their campaign to elect anti-union, billionaire-backed candidates, they violated Ed Code and OUSD policy and should be condemned.
In a district where 82% of students live in poverty, the much needed extra money offered may buy canvassers’ time, and votes, but does not respect the independence and integrity of our students and public schools. This is not just about sharing information; this is a direct attempt to buy influence and votes using our young people who are themselves newly eligible voters.The damage is done, but you can do your part to mitigate the harm by NOT voting for the Parent PAC/EmpowerOak PAC backed candidates in Districts 2, 4 and 6.
In community, Kim Davis, founder, Parents United for Public Schools (estab 2014)
District 2: No on Arielle Fleisher
District 4: No on Mike Hutchinson and Kathryn Camp
District 6: No on Alexandra Williams and LeAna Powell
