Dark Money Attack ads on School Board Candidate Sharon Jefferson

A slick, untruthful mailer was disseminated recently, dissing Dr. Sharon Jefferson as a Manatee County School Board candidate for District 2, funded by Celebrate Achievement. Who are these people and why are they lying about Dr. Jefferson?

Their mailer casts her as someone “aligning herself with special interest groups who advocate for fewer options for our kids. They want to eliminate School Choice Scholarships and take away a parent's right to send their children to the school of their choice.” None of those claims are true. Dr. Jefferson supports school options for families but wants to see greater accountability in School Choice Scholarships.

The zinger on the mailer is the negative image of the dark-skinned boy, head down, hands over his head, looking defeated. What is that message? Black students will suffer if Dr. Jefferson is elected? Really? While she has been clear in her commitment to the success of all students, she had pointed out the need to eliminate disparities among student subgroups, including Black/African American students.

Back to the funding source spreading these lies. We have to follow the money. Celebrate Achievement was a political committee registered in Florida with officers in Gainesville, a registered agent in Tallahassee and a mailing address in Tampa, that received $536,838.23 in contributions in 2022.

In 2026, the committee reported a $325,171.05 balance carried over from earlier elections, and $5,000 from a single Jacksonville company. In July, 2026 they closed up shop and transferred $221,000 to an LLC, called “Public Concepts” in Jupiter, Florida, a consulting firm that seems to specialize in mailers and direct voter outreach. Cindy Spray is one of their clients. Additionally, according to Cindy Spray’s SOE financial reports there was a $6,000 expenditure to that company for mailers on 7/21/26.

Are you confused about all of this? What is clear is that dark money is behind that attack on Dr. Jefferson. Who specifically was responsible for Celebrate Achievement’s dissemination of these lies? It is difficult to nail down the actor; such are the machinations of dark money. What we do know is that Celebrate Achievement had a relationship to Public Concepts, LLC; they gave them $221,000. We also know that Cindy Spray’s is a client of Public Concepts, LLC and her campaign paid Public Concepts $6,000 for mailers in July.

Even though the situation is convoluted, the bottom line is that shady politics demeans the campaign for school board. If we care about public education, and we should because it is the foundation of our democracy, we should care that electioneering for its leaders is above board. If we value our Manatee County School District and want to see it thrive, we need to give great care to placing individuals at the helm.

The citizens of Manatee County deserve a school board member who answers to the people not to dark money groups. As citizens, we need to trust that each of our school board members is truthful and upholds the highest standards of conduct in public discourse. We need a school board member who can be trusted with the education of our children.

Dr. Barbara Ehren
Manatee County