Wanting to influence is corruption. Knowing someone's platform, agreeing with it, and supporting it is different.
Public schools are not corrupted beyond repair in my opinion, nor anything else. But it is beyond a quick repair unless God intercedes. You live in New York. But Zeldon almost won there and the last few election cycles have found more Republicans winning. The same is true in California.
I still believe all things are possible.
Of course, but behind the scenes everyone running was looking for a financial benefit. One woman was certainly quite concerned about the school and her own daughters experience. But she was a real estate broker and a bank had put 15k into her campaign, that was double anyone else's campaign, and guess what, the school system was going to need to build schools in the near future. I made it very clear that I didn't care if I won or lost, my goal was to speak a warning and I wasn't a salesman. Everyone I told this to in our campaign all nodded, but as soon as the election was over they wanted me to be a pitchman for various products and when I refused they were offended.
I didn't care if I won or lost, but suppose you did? I and all the other four candidates would certainly feel beholden to the people who helped them. I didn't pay anyone and I suspect no one else paid anyone, but there is no way I could have done everything without a whole lot of help. Even if there are a few extremely altruistic people out there they are the extreme minority, and all these ones who are donating their time for free expect to get something in the event they win the election.
I got enough of a peak behind the curtain to understand. There are some very good people, well intentioned, believe they are doing the best, but in the end they are all playing the same game with the same expectation that "to the winner go the spoils".
For example I know how you can get 100% reading literacy by the sixth grade. This has been proven scientifically in over 100 studies. We have known how to do this since 1980. It doesn't cost any more than what we already spend, in fact we could easily do it for less. Yet in our city 50% of the kids are not reading proficiently by the sixth grade. That is not accidental. That is not because we just don't have the right people in place. That is a very clear goal by the ones steering the ship. Everyone else is a useful idiot.