Teachers unions finally have some competition in school board races

It’s no secret that the teachers unions have control over most aspects of public education in the U.S. The school boards, which negotiate with unions over salary, work rules, etc. are particularly important for the unions to dominate. 

Michael Hartney, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, recently quantified the unions’ stronghold on the all-important boards. Hartney asserts that union-endorsed candidates win about 70% of all competitive school board races. Union support helps both incumbents and challengers, and union-friendly candidates also tend to win in both conservative and liberal school districts.

The largest union in the country, the National Education Association, has 13,000 local affiliates in all 50 states. Not surprisingly, California leads in union involvement in school board races. In the recent election, the California Teachers Association funded 287 board candidates in 125 school districts – large and small – dispensing more than $2.8 million for its candidates.

The process is simple. The teachers unions fund left-wing school board candidates, who, when they win, then support generous pay and benefits for teachers as well as various radical causes. Then, via union dues, a portion of teacher pay is routed back to the union to start the cycle again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Union leaders clearly know the game. As former Los Angeles teacher union boss Alex Caputo-Pearl once explained, “We have a unique power – we elect our bosses. It would be difficult to think of workers anywhere else who elect their bosses. We do. We must take advantage of it.”

And take advantage they do, but less so than in the recent election. Ballotpedia, the nonpartisan election website, analyzed 361 school board races and found that 36 percent of candidates who opposed Covid shutdowns, diversity initiatives or the use of gender-neutral learning materials, won their elections. At the same time, the analysis showed just 28 percent of winning candidates supported those policies, while about a third of candidates in this election didn’t take clear positions on these issues. That 28 percent is down from elections in April and November 2021, according to Ballotpedia.

One reason the unions didn’t do as well as they did in the past is because many conservative candidates received financial support from political-action committees outside their local school communities or from advocacy groups, such as the 1776 Project PAC and Moms for Liberty, which claims it endorsed 270 school board candidates, with about half of them emerging victorious.

Ground zero for school board upheaval is Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed 30 school board candidates in the August statewide election. Results show that 19 of his endorsees won outright, and six others who were involved in runoffs won their races on Nov. 8. So, out of the 30 candidates the governor supported this year, 25 won. ... In more good news from Florida, the NEA state affiliate, the Florida Education Association, lost more than 4,500 members — a 3.3 percent drop — in the 2020-21 school year.

Perhaps the drop in membership was because the teacher union leaders overplayed their political hand the last few years. ... Along with the involvement of parent groups like Moms for Liberty, this would portend well for children in the nation’s public schools.

Read the full article "School Board Battles are Raging," by Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network.

California school board races

In California, the fight to reclaim local school boards from union control has been hard-fought. This year, hundreds of first time parent-candidates ran for their local school board in districts across California. Many of them were fiercely opposed by California’s teachers unions and quickly learned just how well-oiled and overwhelming the union-machine is when it comes to local elections.

And it’s more than simply donating money. Local union affiliates are able to saturate their community with advocacy for a preferred candidate they could influence under the guise of representing teachers. They were also able to deploy resources and personnel to knock on doors and collect ballots all the way through Election Day.

Many of these candidates only became political because of the government’s oppressive response to the pandemic, pushing back against school closures with no end date in sight, and mask and vaccine mandates. They ran after seeing firsthand that parent concerns were ignored, school boards were in disarray, and powerful teachers unions too often control the reins of school district bureaucrats.

We’d like to share the stories of three of these candidates who put it all on the line for students and parents by running for school board. We’ve gotten to know them well over the last few years as each of these stand out leaders has participated in CPC’s Parent Union Legislative Summit, CLEO’s school board trainings or our Parent Task Force meetings — and all three took the time out of their busy campaigns to join back-to-back CLEO webinars to answer the questions of other aspiring school board candidates.

Drum roll please…

Jonathan Zachreson

Jonathan Zachreson shot on to the national stage quickly during the pandemic when he launched Reopen California Schools in June of 2020. He garnered the attention of millions of Twitter users inspired by his common sense criticism of school closures, and mask and vaccine mandates. He’s now tied for a seat on the Roseville City School Board in Placer County near Sacramento where votes are still being counted.

Reopen California Schools’ impact was felt far beyond northern California. Jonathan helped lead the statewide effort to reopen schools, beginning with Roseville’s schools that reopened earlier than other districts, paving the way for other California districts to follow suit.

Jonathan also used his high-profile social media platform to help break the story that the teachers unions were spying on parent groups in San Diego and was a regular guest on local and national news during the battle over school closures. (Watch Jonathan here.)

“Jonathan has been hugely influential not just in the fight to reopen California’s schools, but also in the national parent movement,” said Lance Christensen, Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs at California Policy Center. “He’s been a constant voice of reason speaking out on behalf of families and it has resonated with parents everywhere.”

Jonathan, a married father of three, campaigned for school board on the platform that school districts should involve parents and put the interests of students above any special interest group. As a finance manager of a large health care system, fiscal responsibility for the school board is also a top priority. If elected, he plans to meet with teachers eager to leave their union to find out what roadblocks they face in making an exit.

“I believe parents need a seat at the table and that local control over education is important,” Jonathan told reporters. “We need to untie the knot.”

Sharon McKeeman

Sharon McKeeman is a force to be reckoned with not only in San Diego, but in the entire state of California. She founded Let Them Breathe during the pandemic to fight against mask mandates and school closures before becoming a school board candidate for the Carlsbad School Board in Area 1.

“She’s a Mama Bear on a mission,” says Mari Barke, director of CPC’s CLEO who is also on the board of Let Them Breathe, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. “She’s really a bright star in the parent movement.”

Sharon, a mom of four, author, and educator, launched Let Them Breathe to educate families and help parents stand up for their rights. The group is credited widely for “mount[ing] some of the most organized opposition to mask and vaccine mandates.” Sharon has been a non-stop presence on local and national news — and on the ground in Carlsbad — fighting for students. (Watch Sharon in action here.)

Her campaign for school board championed putting students first, listening to parents, focusing on core academics and education excellence, and spending and budget transparency.

“I will make sure parents are never ignored again,” Sharon promised voters. “I will listen to educators’ needs instead of union agendas. Most importantly, I will always put students first.”

The latest tallies show Sharon trailing in her race, despite being a local cause célèbre. McKeeman says the Carlsbad’s teachers union support of her opponent was difficult to overcome.

“The last thing the teachers unions want is a fighter like Sharon on the school board,” said Mari Barke. “But this is only round one. Sharon’s just getting started.”

Kira Davis

You’ve likely seen, heard or read popular podcast host and journalist Kira Davis before: She’s Deputy Managing Editor at RedState and has written on education issues for more than a decade. She pulls no punches when it comes to parents’ rights and education reform.

Kira threw her hat in the ring for school board in Capistrano Unified School District, where her two children have attended school, after being an outspoken advocate against mask and vaccine mandates during the pandemic. As the former executive director of an after-school tutoring program for inner city students, Kira campaigned on enhancing educational opportunities for all students while safeguarding parents’ rights.

“I am pro-student and anti-mandate,” Davis said. “Parents are the best people to make decisions about the education and medical needs of their children.” (Watch Kira here.)

As of Wednesday afternoon, her union-backed opponent had a roughly 4% lead in the CUSD Area 2 race. Like Sharon, Kira said her biggest battle was raising enough dollars to compete against her union-backed opponent. Thanks to union spending, Kira’s opponent was able to send out eight campaign mailers compared to her one.

“People don’t realize how much money teachers unions put into races to maintain their control of school boards,” said Rebecca Holz, director of CPC’s Parent Union. However, Rebecca added that this year had been transformative because hundreds of parent candidates took on the system and learned important lessons along the way.

“Parents went from speaking out at school board meetings to running for office over the last two years,” Holz said. “Now they’re ready to use that experience to take the fight for education reform to the next level.”

What’s Happening Next

For newly-elected school board members, another kind of fight begins: learning how to push back against the teacher unions’ influence on their local school board. To that end, CLEO director Mari Barke will be a featured speaker at a special training for new school board members hosted by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) on November 30, 2022. Lance Izumi, director of PRI’s Center for Education, is leading the event the day before the California School Boards Association's (CSBA) annual meeting kicks off in San Diego. The all-day training will provide newly-elected school board members an alternative to CSBA’s union-directed agenda. If you’re interested in attending, learn more here. 

In addition, California Policy Center’s CLEO will soon be releasing a new virtual Leadership Academy to help train newly-elected school board members and other local elected officials on the ABCs of governing that supports the principles of personal liberty, fiscal responsibility and government accountability. The in-depth video training has been developed over the last year in collaboration with Pete Peterson, dean of Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy and one of the nation’s leading experts on good governance. Featured speakers in the online training include CPC’s Mari Barke and Lance Christensen, as well as newly-elected Congressman Kevin Kiley, former State Senator John Moorlach, and many more.