Folks might not realize it, but the NC Superintendent position is up for grabs this election year.

Dr. Atkinson has filed to run again, but there are four other people running as well. This is one of the most crowded Superintendent races in a while, with two Democrats and three Republicans running.

Those running against Atkinson are J. Wesley Sills (R), Henry Pankey (D), Dr. Rosemary Stein (R) and Mark Johnson (R).

I’ve been eyeballing their campaign finance filings and noticed that Mark Johnson was amassing quite a war chest. A closer look at his 2015 year end report showed over $105,000 and also brought to light some disturbing contributions.

For example, Mike Bloomberg and his daughter, Emma. Bloomberg has donated $5,100 to Johnson’s campaign and his daughter another $100.

Another worrisome piece is all the money going back and forth with Leadership in Educational Equity (LEE).  LEE is a politically driven offshoot of Teach for America. LEE is also being headed up in part by Governor McCrory’s former Education aide, Eric Guckian.

LEE has given Johnson both organizational and personal donations spanning a two-year period. Johnson had also paid LEE for campaign consulting.

Michael Buman, the Executive Director for LEE, gave a personal donation of $116.17. As an organization, in 2015, Johnson paid LEE  $3,000 for “consulting”.

In 2014, when Johnson was running for school board, money went back and forth between Johnson and LEE, to the tune of over $4,500.

The next filing period ends later this week and I’ll revisit these reports and see what else shakes out.