Teachers as Everyday Spokespeople: Organic Intellectuals in the Massachusetts Charter School Expansion Battle

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 05. Teachers, Schools, and Diversity

Abstract

The 2016 election in Massachusetts involved an all-out battle over the fate of public education. The ballot featured a referendum proposing to dramatically “lift the cap” on the number of charter schools. Despite the preconditions favoring the pro expansion side, the opposition—led by a coalition of teachers’ unions, community groups, and civil rights organizations—soundly defeated the question. Drawing on 84 interviews and fieldwork observing each side, I argue that the most decisive factor in this upset was the activation of teachers as campaign messengers. I bring together theories of organic intellectuals, resource mobilization, and political organizing to put forth the concept everyday spokespeople. Through this term, I assert how teachers organized themselves, engaging in thousands of one-on-one conversations as relatable and reputable public servants. With the organizational strategic force of their unions and coalition partners, educators used their interpersonal skills to connect with voters and craft compelling narratives about how further charter school expansion would devastate the district schools. I argue that organizing among teachers was critical in activating educators to become everyday spokespeople, through a combination of witnessing each other be politically effective and experiencing their own potential as change agents. While teachers’ unions engaged in top-down mobilization strategies to activate their members, they took an explicit grassroots approach that emphasized member-to-member discussions. I conclude that everyday spokespeople are high-impact, multifaceted political actors. In sectors beyond education, groups can organize to amplify their firsthand knowledge and use their respectability as leverage to change public opinion and policy.

Author

• Kyla Walters, University of Massachusetts-Amherst