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Kentfield Schools
Measure A Kentfield Schools: What all the Money Means
The "Yes on A Campaign": What all that money means
Kentfield School District voters have been inundated with glossy campaign flyers, Robocalls, and print and social media ads. That's in addition to a flurry of phone calls and doorstep visits from campaign volunteers.
Recently it has become apparent that some of the repeated outreach has been targeted to those residents who haven’t returned their ballots yet – which has rankled some, who consider such information an invasion of their privacy.
Purchasing access to voter records costs money. When added to the tally of ads, flyers, calls, and consultants, we’re talking about a great deal of money.
Nearly $56,000 was reported spent by the YES campaign through February 17.That’s before the final, expensive push (and is completely separate from the District’s over $100,000 expenditures on campaign consultants, polling, informational flyers, and the like).
Where does all this campaign money come from?
Kentfield Schools Foundation (which runs Kentfield Invests in Kids) has KIK’ed in $30,000. Over half of the money spent so far on the YES campaign came from the Foundation! Parents are encouraged to contribute to KIK to bolster educational and other on-campus activities. Some of those contributors object to using Foundation funds to support the controversial YES campaign’s activities.
The Vote Yes 4 Kentfield Schools campaign finance reports also reveal a large number of apparently wealthy KSD parents contributing $1,000 and higher. Smaller parent contributions have not been a big factor.
The California Teachers Association, a major funder of some school tax measures, has been reported having contributed $1,125. That’s what’s been reported so far. It will be interesting to see if any late campaign contributions come in, which won’t have to be reported until after March 6 election day.
The financial filings of the Yes Campaign confirm Dick Spotswood’s insights.In his March 4 Marin IJ column, Spotswood aptly characterized the battle over Measure A as pitting parents and teachers who want more…vs. those residents who can’t afford it all.
For the sake of Kentfield School District and Marin as a whole, let’s hope what’s transpired with Measure A will not become the new normal. Balance and compromise are key to community.