Early voting ends today at 7 pm. Please vote for Coretta Mallet-Fontenot — State Board of Education District 4 in the Democratic runoff for the open seat. SBOE District 4 covers a large portion of the Houston area.

Coretta Mallet Fontenot’s opponent is Stacy Childs. Campaign finance committee reports submitted this week show that the Childs campaign had received $234,356 from Charter School PACs in direct and in-kind donations since the March 2022 primary.

Can you vote today for Coretta Mallet Fontenot to support strong public schools? Charters don't have elected boards so they are not accountable to parents and the local community; they don't have to have certified teachers, and they drain money from our local neighborhood schools.

The State Board of Education votes on new charter school applications. That is why this election is so important. 

Here is a breakdown showing the out of state billionaires and charter PACS that have poured money into this race. 

• Childs received $184,206 from the pro-charter Legacy 44 PAC as in-kind donations for direct mail, advertising, and other campaign expenses.
• Legacy 44’s largest donors are two out-of-state billionaires who actively support charter schools. It received a total of $400,000 in April 2022: $100,000 from Jim Walton (Walton family/Walmart fortune) and $300,000 from the Educational Equity PAC, a Virginia-based PAC that reports only one donation of $1.5 million from Reed Hastings, the California billionaire founder of Netflix.
• Legacy 44 is Austin-based and founded by John Armbrust, the founder and CEO of Austin Achieve charter school and a Board member for the Texas Public Charter School Association.
• Childs also received a direct contribution of $50,150 from the Leadership for Educational Equity PAC which is affiliated with Teach for America.

Childs received additional PAC contributions before the March 1 primary election:  $5,000 from Charter Schools Now and another $26,000 from Leadership for Educational Equity.

Coretta Mallet Fontenot, a veteran educator, has been endorsed by Annie’s List, Texas Parent PAC, teacher organizations AFT and TSTA, Area 5 Democrats, the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston, Texas AFL-CIO, Community Voices for Public Education, and a long list of elected officials such as Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, Congressman Al Green, State Representatives Alma Allen, Armando Walle, Ana Hernandez, Mary Ann Perez and Ron Reynolds, and County Commissioner Rodney Ellis.

Can you help Coretta Mallet Fontenot make it to the finish line? The polls close today at 7 pm. You can also vote on Tue, May 24. Click harrisvotes.com for a polling location near you and your sample ballot.

Community Voices for Public Education