Tradition wars begin to roil elections for California’s neighborhood faculty trustees

Elections for neighborhood faculty board seats hardly ever make the highlight in California. After voting for candidates for president, U.S. Congress, and the state Legislature, many citizens skip the neighborhood faculty races altogether.

In Southern California, tradition wars are beginning to affect a few of these races on this yr’s poll  — and fueling a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in donations. Debates over points such because the show of delight flags additionally replicate tensions throughout a lot of California’s Okay-12 college districts, the place comparable subjects have sparked hours-long public conferences, lawsuits, and a brand new wave of political motion and election spending on the native degree.

The neighborhood faculty races aren’t as contentious as some college board races have been, mentioned Larry Galizio, the president and CEO of the Neighborhood School League of California. Of the practically 230 neighborhood faculty board races going down this November, greater than half of them have only one candidate, in response to a CalMatters evaluation of public information. Small or rural neighborhood faculty districts typically have the bottom ranges of participation. If there’s just one candidate for a place, counties usually cancel that race, and the only candidate wins, by default.

The identical development is true in California’s Okay-12 college districts: Greater than half of college board elections this November are uncontested, and plenty of rural districts don’t have any candidates working in any respect, in response to an evaluation of greater than 1,500 college board races by EdSource.

Nonetheless, like rising tensions at some Okay-12 districtsneighborhood faculty board conferences have develop into extra “vitriolic” in the previous few years, Galizio mentioned. Final summer season, for instance, trustee Ryan Bent proposed a decision that might ban delight flags on the three campuses within the North Orange County Neighborhood School District. Though it failed, the proposal helped provoke his opponents. Kyle Miller, who’s difficult Bent this November, has raised greater than $100,000 this election cycle on a platform that emphasizes getting partisan politics out of the neighborhood faculty district.

In Santa Clarita, situated on the northwestern fringe of Los Angeles County, two opposing political motion committees are getting concerned within the election for trustees at their neighborhood faculty district, which oversees the School of the Canyons. Collectively, the candidates and their committees have raised greater than $450,000, in response to marketing campaign finance data. Each committees accuse the opposite of specializing in partisan points, comparable to range, fairness and inclusion or presidential politics.

However a lot of the races this November are just like the one for the Cabrillo Neighborhood School District, which encompasses most of Santa Cruz County. Two years in the past, board members voted to alter the title of the district’s principal campus (Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a sixteenth century Portuguese explorer). After public outcry, board members delayed implementing their determination.

Subsequent week’s election would have been the primary alternative for voters to weigh in on the board’s delay, however the county canceled the election since all 4 positions have been uncontested.

“I fully anticipated to have someone to run against,” mentioned Ken Wagman, one of many unopposed candidates for the board. “It saddens me. I think democracy is served by elections. When candidates are challenged, they’re forced to think, to communicate with their public. No one knows I’m running.”

‘Provocative political actions’ by neighborhood faculty leaders

Galizio mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic helped shift the way in which that some residents seen their elected faculty trustees. “Districts and (college) boards had to make very difficult decisions and there are always people who are opposed to those decisions,” he mentioned. “That’s where you really started to see an increase in the intensity.”

Previously few years, many California neighborhood faculties started flying a delight flag for the primary time — inciting vandalism and theftparticularly in rural or traditionally conservative counties. Bent’s proposed decision in Orange County would have prohibited his district’s campuses from displaying flags that signify “religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation” identities. These flags make some folks really feel “unvalidated, unwelcome or unrepresented” and have led to a decline in faculty enrollment, Bent wrote final July within the proposal.

Pushback got here swiftly. School, college students, and native elected officers aligned with the Democratic Celebration, together with Sen. Josh Newman and Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silvaspoke out in opposition to the decision, and it failed.

Now, it’s a part of Miller’s marketing campaign to unseat Bent. In an interview, Miller mentioned such insurance policies are “provocative political actions” that draw consideration however distract from extra essential points, comparable to campus infrastructure, school pay, and profession schooling.

Bent declined requests for remark. Public data present that he has raised lower than $2,000 for this election.

California legislation prohibits neighborhood faculty trustees from figuring out with a political occasion on the poll, however many candidates sign their occasion affiliation anyway, typically by means of endorsements. Regardless of his marketing campaign motto — “get politics out of education” — Miller accepted the endorsement of the Orange County Democratic Celebration.

“I’m not saying nobody is political,” he mentioned. “I’m saying you don’t let it enter your job as trustee.”

In Santa Clarita, each political motion committees agree that neighborhood faculty trustees shouldn’t deal with nationwide politics or partisan points — however they every declare their opponents are doing simply that.

Wendy Brill-Wynkoop is a neighborhood faculty professor and the treasurer of the school union’s political motion committee, which has supported 4 candidates for the Santa Clarita Neighborhood School District’s board of trustees. The race is about college students, she mentioned.

“I don’t think it should be politicized, and we haven’t politicized it at all,” she mentioned. “But the other side has driven in the Trump parade with the candidate signs on their cars.”

“I’m not saying nobody is political. I’m saying you don’t let it enter your job as trustee.”

Kyle Miller, —

This August, Harleen Grewal, a dentist, fashioned a rival political motion committee, Santa Clarita Voices for Higher Colleges, which has supported 4 candidates for the neighborhood faculty board. Grewal denied any formal affiliation with the native Republican Celebration, although it has endorsed all 4 of her candidates. As an alternative, she mentioned she fashioned the political motion committee to struggle again in opposition to the school union and “left-leaning” members of the board, who she mentioned have superior “DEI” (range, fairness and inclusion), held “secret” board conferencesand “kicked out” the previous faculty chancellor.

After a closed session assembly, the board positioned the chancellor, Dianne Van Hook, on administrative go away this summer season, with out offering an evidence. Van Hook introduced her retirement quickly after. Across the similar time, the native paper wrote an editorialaccusing the school board of violating the Brown Act, which typically prohibits public officers from assembly behind closed doorways. Final week, Van Hook filed a wrongful termination declare in opposition to the district and the board.

No candidates in Humboldt

For some, a seat on a neighborhood faculty board is step one in a political profession. Former Gov. Jerry Brown served on the Los Angeles Neighborhood School District Board as his first elected place earlier than turning into secretary of state and later, a two-time governor. Sen. John Lairda Santa Cruz Democrat, and Assemblymember Mike Fonga Monterey Park Democrat and the chair of the Meeting Greater Schooling Committee, each had stints as neighborhood faculty board members earlier than becoming a member of the state Legislature.

A lot of the governance of a neighborhood faculty entails implementing new insurance policies and overseeing budgets, contracts, and government employees. “I’d only encourage people to run if they’re serious and they understand that it’s a different kind of (elected) position,” Galizio mentioned. He mentioned nearly all of those that run for a board seat have “no ambition for elective office beyond community college.”

Galizio mentioned he’s involved that some high-profile races might yield candidates who really feel beholden to the curiosity teams, comparable to unions or builders, who financed their campaigns. However he emphasised that almost all races don’t have this drawback.

In rural areas like Humboldt County, faculty boards wrestle to search out any candidates in any respect. In 2020, the School of the Redwoods appointed Rebecca Robertson, a professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, after no person ran for one of many open board seats. “It’s a responsibility and an honor to serve on the board,” she mentioned. “Ideally there would be competitive elections and multiple people to step forward.”

This August, she filed for re-election, however nobody stepped as much as problem her. Then, final month, her husband accepted a job on the neighborhood faculty, creating a possible battle of curiosity. Robertson determined to resign from the board, however since she’s the one candidate, she’ll be re-elected anyway.

“This is a small community, and there just aren’t a lot of people who stand up to take these positions,” she mentioned.

After the election, she’ll should resign, once more, so the board can appoint a successor.

Knowledge reporter Jeremia Kimelman contributed to this reporting.

Adam Echelman covers California’s neighborhood faculties in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom targeted on larger schooling.

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