[csusbpeace] Conservative PACs Inject Millions Into Often-Ignored School Board Races
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2022 05:47:03 -0700
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conservative-pacs-school-board-races_n_63453a82e4b03e8038cd0223
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/conservative-pacs-school-board-races_n_63453a82e4b03e8038cd0223>
Conservative PACs Inject Millions Into Often-Ignored School Board Races
In the run-up to the midterm elections, a growing number of conservative
groups are turning their attention to local school races.
Oct 11, 2022
As Republicans <https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/republican-party> and
Democrats <https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/democratic-party> fight for
control of Congress this fall, a growing collection of conservative political
action groups is targeting its efforts closer to home: at local school boards.
Their aim is to gain control of more school systems and push back against
what they see as a liberal tide in public education classrooms, libraries,
sports fields, even building plans.
Once seen as sleepy affairs with little interest outside their communities,
school board elections started to heat up
<https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-ohio-school-boards-racial-injustice-election-2020-a27a6ea4b7d4acc07173ebf7fa494257>
last year as parents aired frustrations with pandemic policies. As those
issues fade, right-leaning groups are spending millions on candidates who
promise to scale back teachings on race and sexuality, remove offending books
from libraries and nix plans for gender-neutral bathrooms or
transgender-inclusive sports teams.
Democrats have countered with their own campaigns portraying Republicans as
extremists who want to ban books and rewrite history.
At the center of the conservative effort is the 1776 Project PAC, which
formed last year to push back against the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which
provides free lesson plans that center U.S. history around slavery and its
lasting impacts. Last fall and this spring, the 1776 group succeeded in
elevating conservative majorities to office in dozens of school districts
across the U.S., propelling candidates who have gone on to fire
superintendents and enact sweeping “bills of rights” for parents.
In the wake of recent victories in Texas and Pennsylvania — and having spent
$2 million between April 2021 and this August, according to campaign finance
filings — the group is campaigning for dozens of candidates this fall. It’s
supporting candidates in Maryland’s Frederick and Carroll counties, in
Bentonville, Arkansas, and 20 candidates across southern Michigan.
Its candidates have won not only in deeply red locales but also in districts
near liberal strongholds, including Philadelphia and Minneapolis. And after
this November, the group hopes to expand further.
“Places we’re not supposed to typically win, we’ve won in,” said Ryan
Girdusky, founder of the group. “I think we can do it again.”
In Florida, recent school board races saw an influx of attention — and money
— from conservative groups, including some that had never gotten involved in
school races.
The American Principles Project, a Washington think tank, put a combined
$25,000 behind four candidates for the Polk County board. The group made its
first foray into school boards at the behest of local activists, its leader
said, and it’s weighing whether to continue elsewhere. The group’s
fundraising average surged from under $50,000 the year before the pandemic to
about $2 million now.
“We lean heavily into retaking federal power,” said Terry Schilling, the
think tank’s president. “But if you don’t also take over the local school
boards, you’re not going to have local allies there to actually reverse the
policies that these guys have been implementing.”
In a move never before seen in the state, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis
endorsed a slate of school board candidates
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desantis-school-board-candidates_n_6306378ae4b052615d77166c>,
putting his weight behind conservatives who share his opposition to lessons
on sexuality and what he deems critical race theory. Most of the
DeSantis-backed candidates won in their August races, in some cases replacing
conservative members who had more moderate views than the firebrand governor.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) addresses the crowd before publicly signing
HB7, "individual freedom," also dubbed the "Stop Woke" bill during a news
conference at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens,
Fla., on April 22, 2022.
Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald via Associated Press
The movement claims to be an opposing force to left-leaning teachers unions.
They see the unions as a well-funded enemy that promotes radical classroom
lessons on race and sexuality — a favorite smear is to call the unions
“groomers.”
<https://apnews.com/article/education-gender-identity-adf10ff5f169fae9c9af4d08a7b0c2bc>
The unions, which also support candidates, have called it a fiction meant to
stoke distrust in public schools.
In Maryland’s Frederick County, the 1776 group is backing three school board
candidates against four endorsed by education unions. The conservatives are
running as the “Education Not Indoctrination” slate, with a digital ad saying
children are being “held captive” by schools. The ad shows a picture of
stacked books bearing the words “equity,” “grooming,” “indoctrination” and
“critical race theory.”
Karen Yoho, a board member running for re-election, said outside figures have
stoked fears about critical race theory and other lessons that aren’t taught
in Frederick County.
The discourse has mostly stayed civil in her area, but Yoho takes exception
to the accusation that teachers are “grooming” children.
“I find it disgusting,” said Yoho, a retired teacher whose children went
through the district. “It makes my heart hurt. And then I kind of get mad and
I get defensive.”
In Texas, Patriot Mobile — a wireless company that promotes conservative
causes — has emerged as a political force in school board races. Earlier this
year, its political arm spent more than $400,000 out of $800,000 raised to
boost candidates in a handful of races in the northern Texas county where the
company is based. All of its favored candidates won, putting conservatives in
control of four districts.
The group did not respond to requests for comment, but a statement released
after the spring victories said Texas was “just the beginning.”
Some GOP strategists have cautioned against the focus on education, saying it
could backfire with more moderate voters. Results so far have been mixed —
the 1776 Project claims a 70% win rate, but conservative candidates in some
areas have fallen flat
<https://apnews.com/article/elections-education-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-school-boards-bed36a1460957cb6be4df9d18583a765>
in recent elections.
Still, the number of groups that have banded together under the umbrella of
parental rights seems only to be growing. It includes national organizations
such as Moms for Liberty, along with smaller grassroots groups.
“There is a very stiff resistance to the concerted and intentional effort to
make radical ideas about race and gender part of the school day. Parents
don’t like it,” said Jonathan Butcher, an education fellow at the
conservative Heritage Foundation.
The foundation and its political wing have been hosting training sessions
encouraging parents to run for school boards, teaching them the basics about
budgeting but also about the perceived dangers of what the group deems
critical race theory.
For decades, education was seen as its “own little game” that was buffered
from national politics, said Jeffrey Henig, a political science and education
professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who has written about
outside funding in school board elections. Now, he said, local races are
becoming battlegrounds for broader debates.
He said education is unlikely to be a decisive issue in the November election
— it’s overshadowed by abortion and the economy — but it can still be wielded
to “amplify local discontent” and push more voters to the polls.
Republicans are using the tactic this fall as they look to unseat Democrats
at all levels of government.
In Michigan, the American Principles Project is paying for TV ads against the
Democratic governor where a narrator reads sexually explicit passages from
the graphic novel “Gender Queer.” It claims that “this is the kind of
literature that Gretchen Whitmer wants your kids exposed to,” while giant red
letters appear saying “stop grooming our kids.”
Similar TV ads are being aired in Arizona to attack Sen. Mark Kelly, and in
Maine against Gov. Janet Mills, both Democrats.
The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie
Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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