By Kyle Olson
EAGnews.org

OAKLAND, Calif. – There’s nothing like government spending money on lobbyists to secure more money from a different level of government. But that’s precisely what Oakland, California schools are poised to do.

The Oakland school board is expected to approve a contract tonight that will pay a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm $150,000 to represent the district’s interests in the nation’s capital.

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Never mind all we’ve heard about California school districts being nearly broke, and counting on voter approval of a massive tax increase to bail them out. Somehow the Oakland district apparently has enough cash to play with the big boys in the Beltway.

This won’t be the first such action by the Oakland school board. In 2010, the board approved $75,000 to be paid to The Podesta Group, a D.C.-based lobbying firm headed by Tony Podesta.  He’s the brother of power broker John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress and founder of Media Matters for America.

The Podesta Group was hired to “provide strategic counsel to the District regarding school safety, school climate and restorative justice programs and funding for such programs.”

Fascinating. What do DC lobbyists know about school safety in a district on the opposite side of the country? Apparently a lot for that type of money!

In 2011, the district paid another $60,000 to Podesta for lobbying of federal officials. And tonight the school district is poised to approve a $150,000 contract for similar services.

School districts across the country are in full meltdown mode because they’re burning through cash. Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying seems like a poor use for limited funds, particularly at a time when schools are laying off teachers, imposing furlough days andcutting programs.

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We think the taxpayers of Oakland would agree, if they noticed this type of waste happening right under their noses.