Charlotte, NC — Parents who never imagined running for office battled to win seats on local school boards last week; they won some, but lost many. Their fiercest opponents were the teachers unions.
The media portrayed these school board races as culture wars, but more than anything they were struggles by parents to wrest control of the boards from self-serving unions. For decades, the unions have maintained a tight grip on who gets elected. No wonder school district decisions — about budgets, masking, COVID closures, curriculum and teacher contracts — protect teachers first. Never mind what’s best for kids.
That needs to change. Albuquerque, New Mexico, winning candidate Courtney Jackson told a local newspaper, “the board of education should be the kids’ union,” not a puppet of the teachers union. Jackson decided to run after watching the board discuss when to end lockdowns. The discussion focused entirely on what teachers wanted, never addressing the kids’ needs. “Their interests were not brought up once,” she said.
In Guilford, Connecticut, a small seacoast town, the Guilford Education Association, representing teachers, ran the show. In a questionnaire for school board candidates, the union’s No. 1 question asked candidates to pledge support for “collective bargaining rights.” Question two asked candidates to guarantee unions will be included in all discussions of the schools’ policies and funding. Question three asked candidates to promise to “oppose all proposals that would censor teachers from teaching about inclusion, diversity, and equity.” What about the kids?
All five Guilford candidates who gave the “correct” answers won the union’s backing and prevailed on election night. Their slogan was “Protect Guilford Schools,” but their true goal was “Protect the Teachers Union.” One of the winners boasted of coming from “a long line of educators,” while another promised, “I will listen to our teachers, administrators, and superintendent and respect that they act always in the best interest of our students and schools.”
Nearly everywhere, teachers unions use money and manpower to turn out voters. Challengers need to do the same. The three Albuquerque school board candidates who defeated the union slate went to the local chamber of commerce, other small business groups and Republican party allies for alternate sources of money.
When the results were in, the president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation predicted “a new dynamic on the board,” with some members actually disagreeing with the school district’s employees. Imagine that.
In Colorado’s cities, including Denver and Steamboat Springs, union slates won handily. But in Douglas County, Aurora County and Greeley Evans School District 6, challengers outspent the union and broke its monopoly on school board seats.
After union-backed candidates were defeated in Douglas County, Kevin DiPasquale, president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, predicted big changes. In the past, teachers could just assume the school board “had their backs.”
In Montclair, New Jersey, the mayor, Sean Spiller, serves as president of the state’s largest teachers union but also appointed the school board — a blatant conflict of interest. The board negotiates the teachers’ contract. Last Tuesday, the town voted 70% in favor of replacing mayoral control with an elected board.
That’s an improvement, but electing the board won’t guarantee students become the priority. In New Jersey, the teachers union wields enormous electoral power with the support of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.
Although school board elections are often officially labelled nonpartisan, that’s intentionally misleading. In Tennessee and Florida, Republican state lawmakers are pushing legislation to discard the nonpartisan label so voters can see these elections for what they are.
Last week’s elections were just the beginning. Many school districts will elect board members sometime in the spring, instead of on Election Day. That’s by design to keep the public in the dark that an election is even happening, and to discourage turnout.
Parents and other concerned citizens have roughly half a year to gird for these upcoming contests. For anyone who has a child in public school, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
Support The Liberty Loft by donating via PayPal or donating with crypto. Your support helps us achieve our mission to deliver conservative news and opinion. You can find us on a wide variety of social media channels or subscribe to our notifications to receive all the latest information as it is released.
225211 323251You produced some decent points there. I looked on the internet for that concern and located most individuals will go together with with the web site. 557867
510432 525995A person essentially lend a hand to make significantly articles I may well state. That will be the really initial time I frequented your internet site page and up to now? I amazed with the research you produced to create this certain publish incredible. Great activity! 578178
Thank you for your sharing. I am worried that I lack creative ideas. It is your article that makes me full of hope. Thank you. But, I have a question, can you help me?
36069 401452Its a shame you dont have a donate button! Id most definitely donate to this outstanding web web site! I suppose inside the meantime ill be happy with bookmarking and putting your Rss feed to my Google account. I appear forward to fresh updates and will share this blog with my Facebook group: ) 261465
693062 864379As I web site possessor I believe the topic material here is rattling fantastic , appreciate it for your efforts. 550641
519940 259728Wow, incredible blog structure! How lengthy have you ever been blogging for? you produced running a blog appear simple. The full look of your site is wonderful, well the content material! 384909
240873 261885I conceive this internet site contains some rattling superb data for every person : D. 50472
557386 355964I really like meeting utile information, this post has got me even a lot more information! . 161127
582028 463690Good post. It does shed some light on the concern. By the for those interested in binary options can get an exclusive binary options bonus. 96509
681801 766463I dugg some of you post as I cogitated they were extremely beneficial invaluable 712868
657975 666444As I site possessor I believe the content material material here is really superb , appreciate it for your efforts. 458038
442217 991599Quite fascinating subject , appreciate it for putting up. 963823
489294 333234Sweet site, super pattern , real clean and utilize genial . 567466
73873 245349I just added this webpage to my feed reader, great stuff. Cannot get enough! 606167
997230 172213Music began playing anytime I opened this site, so irritating! 505012