Last week, New York held its school board elections. If you asked the average person ten years ago who their school board members were, most would say they had no idea. But that has all changed thanks to the teachers unions’ concerted effort to push politics into schools and to pick fights with parents.
Even before schools were closed because of covid, parents across the country were waking up to the importance of who was on their local school board. They’ve also started to realize how unions have highjacked these local boards.
For example, this year in New York there were more candidates running for school board seats and higher voter turnout than ever before. Unions recognized the danger this posed to them, and –as any good political organization would do—they went all in to make sure their candidates won. Unfortunately, parents don’t have a well-funded union or a political action committee. Saratoga Springs City School District provides an example of this; the candidates with the most power and money behind them won, leaving parents without a voice on the school board.
The teachers union funded mass mailings for the candidates they endorsed—with mailers for the same candidates also coming from the state Democratic Committee (even though school board elections are supposed to be non-partisan in New York).