Across California, fed up parents are taking back local school boards.

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** Parent group leaders launch campaigns for school board.
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Dear John,

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous in California’s government-run schools, two stories this week show that intransigent school boards continue to ignore parents — and common sense.


First, shocked parents pushed back against their local school board when news broke ([link removed]) that board members were voting on allowing a Planned Parenthood clinic to open at John Glenn High School. The school is part of Norwalk-LaMirada Unified School District in southern California where the majority ([link removed]) of students are Hispanic/Latino.


Hundreds of parents protested ([link removed]) at the school board meeting Monday, forcing the board to postpone its vote.


The high school clinic would reportedly provide contraception and would refer students to off-campus Planned Parenthood locations for “services not offered” on campus, according to the proposal ([link removed]) . In that proposal, the school district acknowledges “that under California law minors have the right to consent to reproductive health services without parental consent or notification” (emphasis added). Parents are rightly concerned that the clinic would be used as a base to deploy Planned Parenthood’s transgender and sexual ideology on vulnerable minors.


“Other Planned Parenthood clinics do provide gender-affirming hormone therapy, so there is a very real possibility students will be referred off-campus to receive this treatment…with zero parental notification,” explained Nicole Neily, the president and founder of Parents Defending Education.


But the proposed clinic at John Glenn high school is not simply a singular misstep by one errant school board. In 2019, Planned Parenthood announced ([link removed]) an agreement with Los Angeles County officials and L.A. Unified to establish 50 "Wellbeing Centers” at local high schools with the “aim to create a safe space in each school where students can receive the education and health services they need to lead healthy lives."


WHO IS THAT MASKED MAN(DATE)?


Also this week, the San Diego Unified School Board came under fire for its decision to reinstate a mask mandate for students enrolled in summer school after the CDC moved San Diego County into the “high” COVID tier. The district said the policy could remain in place when students return to school in the fall if COVID case numbers don’t drop.


School board president Dr. Sharon Whitehurst-Payne faced immediate backlash from parents after she flatly announced during a television interview ([link removed]) that the only option for students who do not want to wear a mask is to return to remote “Zoom school.” When pressed on the reality of students who want to be on campus without a mask and do not want the option of more online school, Whitehurst-Payne abruptly retorted, “They should just make it known that they don’t feel comfortable and at that point, just not return.”


Never mind that California’s children are still recovering from the severe learning loss and mental health crisis caused by the governor’s decision to keep schools closed far longer than other states at the behest of the state’s powerful teachers unions. Or that the state’s own data ([link removed]) continues to show that K-12 children have a 0.1 percent chance of dying from COVID-19.


“Parents are outraged,” said Carlsbad parent Sharon McKeeman, founder of the parent group Let Them Breathe, which won a lawsuit against the district vaccine mandate earlier this year. “We're tired of talking at these school boards and not being listened to.”


SEE PARENTS RUN


McKeeman announced ([link removed]) that she is running for Carlsbad Unified School Board at a press conference Monday and called on other parents to follow suit.


“Instead of just talking to the school board, it’s time to step up and be the school board,” she said.


Former school teacher Becca Williams joined McKeeman at the presser and announced she will run for San Diego Unified School Board. And in northern California, Jonathan Zachreson, founder of the parent group Reopen California Schools, announced his candidacy for school board in Roseville City School District near Sacramento.


“We need more parents on boards that will put students first,” Zachreson tweeted when making his announcement.


At CPC, we couldn’t be more thrilled to see parents taking back their local school boards and pushing back against school board members who continue to advance the teacher unions’ radical agenda and ignore parent concerns.


If you’re thinking about running for your school board, visit our new online CLEO Candidate Academy. The online site walks aspiring candidates through the steps of launching your campaign and it’s FREE if you use the password “CPCFREE” at calelecteds.org ([link removed]) . But don’t delay! The filing period to run for school board in California closes August 12, 2022.

SUPPORT CPC ([link removed])


**
Gavin Newsom's admission on his state of emergency.
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California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley called Gov. Newsom on the carpet this week after Newsom said in a television interview ([link removed]) that he was keeping the state of emergency in place because the legislature hadn’t enacted the legislation that he wanted on COVID testing.


Newsom announced the state of emergency more than two years ago under the California Emergency Services Act. The law allows the governor to declare a statewide emergency during conditions of “extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state” that exceed local governments’ resources or authority, and it requires that the order be terminated “at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant.”


Newsom’s lame excuse for dragging his feet on ending the state of emergency is that he needs to retain the authority to facilitate COVID-19 tests to be processed en masse without a doctor reviewing each test, which he said is required by law.


“Just think about that. Hundreds of thousands of tests a week, how many weeks would it take to get your test results back if we didn’t have that state of emergency?” Newsom said.


When asked why he doesn’t change the law on test results, Newsom did what he does best — blame Republicans! — even though Democrats control every statewide office and the legislature.


“I keep telling the Legislature, especially some of these folks out there outraged, and they didn’t even introduce legislation to change it,” Newsom said. The governor knows that the “outraged” lawmakers are invariably on the wrong side of the legislature’s Democratic supermajority.


But the governor can’t keep a state of emergency in place for convenience or to circumvent action needed by the legislature, says Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R - Rocklin).


“Newsom just admitted the State of Emergency is illegal. He says he’s only keeping it in place because the Legislature won’t pass the laws he wants,” tweeted ([link removed]) Kiley, who called Newsom’s admission a “critical error.”

MEANWHILE, IN ORANGE COUNTY


The Orange County Board of Education is suing Newsom to end the state of emergency. The next hearing in the case is set for August 11.


“Governor Newsom has acted unlawfully by extending the statewide COVID emergency…well beyond any point that is legally justifiable,” said Scott Street, an attorney for the county board. "The governor’s own expert witness said that the COVID-19 pandemic could last another five years and that it would be exceptionally difficult to determine in real-time when it ends.”


Mari Barke, Orange County Board of Education Trustee and Director of CPC’s California Local Elected Officials (CLEO), has helped lead the charge to rein in Newsom’s emergency authority.


“The law does not allow the governor of California to retain emergency powers indefinitely,” Barke said. “It’s time for the governor to end the state of emergency and restore normal representative government in California.”


**
The California Exodus continues.
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Despite Newsom’s recent attempts to cast California as the nation’s Shangri-La, a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shows ([link removed]) only Illinois ranked worse than California when it comes to the number of moving vans heading out of state. The report is based on data from moving company United Van Lines.


Texas drew the most California transplants, but the Golden State also lost residents to Newsom’s nemeses in Florida and Virginia. For the first time in almost a decade, according to the San Jose Mercury News, “San Jose’s population dropped below 1 million, and San Francisco’s population has dropped by more than 3% in the past two years.” Los Angeles has also seen its population “steadily decline.”


The ongoing exodus is revealing another concerning trend: the California Dream has lost its luster with the younger crowd. “Once a center of youth, the Bay Area is now grappling with an aging workforce — the median age in Santa Clara County, 37, and San Mateo County, 40, are both significantly higher than Austin, Texas, where the median age is 34,” reports the Mercury News.


With skyrocketing housing and gas prices, exploding crime and homelessness, and public schools that rank among the worst in the nation, it’s no wonder people of all ages are voting with their feet.


** CPC president Will Swaim to help college students and parents defend against Leftist indoctrination.
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As parents prepare to send their high school graduates off to college in the coming weeks, many are concerned that their kids will be sucked into the abyss of Leftist indoctrination that’s become the norm at most U.S. colleges. CPC’s Parent Union is providing an antidote: Will Swaim, president of CPC, will share the story of his journey, from becoming a political Marxist in college to a champion of American liberty at CPC, in a casual discussion with parents and students on Friday, August 5 at 10:30 am in Orange County. If you’re interested in attending this discussion, please contact Rebecca Holz, Director of CPC’s Parent Union, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .


New Podcast ()
[link removed]


** Radio Free California #233: Burning Bridges
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CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen consider Nancy Pelosi’s affection for Harry Bridges, the Bay Area radical who led the longshoreman’s union while serving Stalin. Independent truckers don’t want to be rescued by Sacramento. Gavin Newsom collects an award for excellence in education. And Tom Cotton takes on Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges on transgenderism. Listen now ([link removed]) .


More from CPC ()
If cities are in financial crisis, why aren't they panicking?

Most U.S. cities are experiencing an administrative and financial crisis. But you wouldn't know it from the confident tone of city budget hearings where most of the attention has been placed on how to spend remaining federal relief funds and so-called “discretionary funds.” CPC senior fellow Mark Moses, author of The Municipal Financial Crisis — A Framework for Understanding and Fixing Government Budgeting, explains why now is the time for city leaders to shed, not double down on, ineffective policies. Read the article. ([link removed])

Our Ed School Slums

To get a teaching credential, a prospective teacher must take classes at a school of education. But many American schools of education are not worthy of existing and are typically nothing more than a politically correct fad factory, writes Larry Sand, president of California Teacher Empowerment Network. Read the article. ([link removed])


**
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** Will you support CPC today?
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California Policy Center is breaking new ground to help Californians take back our great state! From our $1 million investment in helping hundreds of thousands of government employees understand their right to leave their unions to our work advocating for more water infrastructure in California, CPC is making a real difference in the lives of Californians every day. If you are inspired by the work we are doing, will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to CPC today?

Your generous donation will help advance the movement to save California. Click HERE ([link removed]) to access our secure online portal. Thank you for your partnership!

SUPPORT CPC ([link removed])


** Quote of the Week
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“Instead of just talking to the school board, it’s time to step up and be the school board."

— Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Breathe, who announced ([link removed]) her candidacy for Carlsbad Unified school board this week.

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