Beyond Bricks BESE candidate forum tonight at Woodlawn High School for district 6

Come out tonight to see me and the 4 other candidates for district 6 battle it out on a stage for your votes for the upcoming October 24 primary election.

Millions of dollars is being spent by PAC’s funded by out of state billionaires like the Waltons and Eli Broad. This may be one of your last chances to hear my vision of what our public education system needs and what we could accomplish without the hedge fund managers that brought about the Great Recession telling us what they think our public education system should look like.

Come support me as I discuss ending Common Core and Louisiana’s obsession with standardized tests we never see or use.

Let’s take back our public education system for our children. I can’t do this without your help and support.

Registration starts at 5:45.
Doors open at 6:00.
Event is scheduled intil 7:30 but I will be around before and after to talk to voters and provide campaign materials.

Thanks

Jason France

Forum Registration Link

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BESE Campaign News as of 9/28/15

I want to apologize to my regular readers of the blog.  I have been remiss with  my postings of late and there are a lot of great stories to write about.  However one of the biggest potential stories is the campaign I am working on now, my own, and it’s been keeping me very busy.

Some curious and wonderful events have transpired that most of you are not aware.  For starters I made my candidacy to BESE official.  I am on the October 24th ballot.  That’s just 4 weeks away folks.

In addition the incumbent, Chas Roemer, announced at the last minute (during the qualifying period) that he would not be seeking re-election for a third term.  This announcement was made a few hours after I registered my candidacy.  I’m not sure if the two are related, but I like to think so.  I have not been easy on Chas these last few years and I had plenty of material I was saving up to use on him in the primary had he chosen to run.

This last minute announcement of the incumbent not seeking re-election lured three new challengers to the race for district 6.  One of these challengers is backed by business and industry and Roemer.  All three are relative unknowns, just as myself and my original campaigning counterpart.

This race could be very interesting.  District 6 is a very conservative district by the numbers, by the way it was gerrymandered, although not all parishes and people are aligned that way. Public sentiment is very anti-common core, especially among conservatives, and I was one of the very first people in our state to speak out against Common Core publicly, and certainly the first person in my race.

In addition, a new group called “FlipBESE” has formed with parent activists across the state which has honored me with their endorsement.  FlipBESE has endorsed a candidate in every race in the state which is a stark contrast to the incumbent or challenger supported by the business and industry lobby “LABI”.  This year there is a unified message and slate of challengers to the business and vendor sponsored status quo and most races are head-to-head match-ups and with only one party on the ballot (Republican or Democrat.)

My race is the exception and will be one of the few requiring a run-off.  My race has 5 candidates.  Four candidates are Republicans and one candidate is a Libertarian.  The Libertarian candidate happens to be me.

My platform is to remove the destructive influence of the state and federal government and to restore our local education systems to our local governments.  Our state and federal governments don’t have a clue what’s going on in our schools, and they don’t seem to care.  Rather than working with children and parents they prefer to work with numbers and percentages.  They impose unjust and unreasonable burdens on our local systems at the behest of lobbyists and politicians far removed from our children and our communities.  I believe we need to limit their influence to whatever extent we can.  BESE is charged with overseeing the state department of Education, and as a BESE member I aim to turn the department around to have a look at itself, and what it is doing wrong, and to leave our local districts alone.

Rather than the top down, authoritarian approach to education that has led us down a road of ruin, I will encourage a collaborative one, where school districts tell the state what they believe works and what they think they need in terms of support.

We have delivered hundreds of signs and push cards to our supporters.  After making those purchases and the qualifying fee we are running low on funding and could use all the help you can spare.  If you planned to donate to the campaign, but were just waiting for the right time to do it, now is that time.  We won’t be able to efficiently and effectively spend money in the days before the election, so any last minute mailings or PR needs to be planned and purchased ASAP.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support (verbal, financial and volunteer work.)  We would not have made it this far without you, and now we are in the final stretch.  We actually have a pretty decent shot of making the run-off and winning this contest.  Please do what you can, especially if you live in district 6 or have have friends or relatives that do.

Jason France

Below are the links to volunteer or contribute:

http://www.jasonfrance4la.com/contribute

http://jasonfrance4la.com/volunteer