The district 6 school board race explained, why Joyce is the choice and Chauncey is not

District 6

District 6 sees long time teacher and lifelong Jacksonville resident Charlotte Joyce going against recent transplant, former Teach for America corp member and current lawyer David Chauncey. Mrs. Joyce has been working in our schools since Chauncey was in middle school.

Joyce would have the unique experience of being a school board representative of not just the schools she worked at but the schools she went to as well. Chauncey on the other hand does have some relevant teaching experience, teaching for two years at Ribault middle as a Teach for America teacher. He left however as soon as his two-year commitment was over while Mrs. Joyce has spent her entire adult life in our public schools.

Joyce raised $9,455, spent $8,396.47 and received 6,629 votes, for a cost of 1.22 per vote while Dave Chauncey raised $75,247 and spent 65.952.24 on 6,624 votes, for a cost of a whopping $9.92 per vote.

Then Becki Couch the two term current school board member has supported Joyce as well saying,  If you live in my district, I ask that you vote for Charlotte Austin Joyce to represent the school board seat I am vacating. She is a seasoned educator who will put the needs of students first. She has grown up on the Westside and attended Stilwell and Ed White. She is an experienced educator with school aged children, so she understands the needs of our students and community on the Westside.

Of Chauncey’s 75 thousand 57 thousand came in the form of a maximum donation which was seventy-nine percent of his total, furthermore 75 percent of his money came from outside district 6. This begs the questions how many teachers and parents from within district 6 can afford to drop a grand on a school board race and why are so many people who don’t live in the district supporting him?

 While Joyce was bringing in small dollar amounts from teachers and parents the Times Union reported, Among (Chauncey’s) donors were pro-school-choice advocates, including people who support charter schools and state-funded scholarships for private and religious schools.

For instance, Gary Chartrand and organizations linked to him donated at least $4,000, records show. Ten political action committees contributed, including the Watchdog PAC, First Coast Conservatives, and Floridians for Economic Freedom.

Since Chauncey took so much money from charter schools you may be wondering how Chauncey feels about charter schools, here is a tweet of his from last year that seems to indicate that he is all for them.

When Corcoran and Chauncey speak about “high expectations, high support” charter schools, one of the schools they are speaking about is the KIPP chain which recently expanded into Miami. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Chauncey received a lot of financial support from the KIPP Jacksonville board and leadership.  Did I mention his wife works there as well?

There is a huge distinction between the candidates in district 6, a lifelong educator and resident of the district or a well-connected lawyer new to the district who has close ties to and lots of support from the corporate reform movement.

Note: As of today Chauncey has brought in over a hundred grand, for a school board race, and practically none of it from teachers, parents or from within district 6

https://www.voterfocus.com/CampaignFinance/candidate_pr.php?op=cv&e=21&c=Duval&ca=840&rellevel=4&committee=N