SACRAMENTO, Calif. — School boards are the largest body of elected officials. In the past, handfuls of people turned out for their meetings, but since the pandemic — with the rise in politics and Zoom — school board meetings now draw crowds.
Experts ABC10 spoke with say they don’t see it stopping any time soon.
There are about 5,000 school board seats in California. Roughly half of those seats are up for election this year.
Research shows school districts can impact property values, even if you're not a parent.
So, what are school boards and how have their politics made more headlines than declining test scores?
'The school boards decide on the curriculum'
"School boards are hugely important. They hire and fire the superintendent who is the boss of the entire district... the school boards decide on the curriculum," said Carol Lloyd, editorial director GreatSchools. "They also decide on school closures and school openings... school boards create the vision of education for a given district."
Lloyd works for a nonprofit organization focusing on helping parents understand the role they play in their student's education, from understanding data to advocating for improvement or explaining what school boards do.
"It is a nonpartisan election," said Lloyd. "That doesn't mean that people don't have strong views and you wouldn't be able to notice what by reading someone's views, you might be able to glean what their background is, you might be able to find out who's funding them and why they're funding them. That might give you insight into whether or not you agree with this candidate, but on the whole, it's one of those election areas which is not run by the Democratic Party or by the Republican Party. I think because of the hot-button issues that have been raised... some groups see school board elections as a way to build political momentum in one direction or another. I do think that the school board elections have become more partisan."
Interview with CalMatters
This year, the California Republican Party is making its biggest push to get candidates for school board seats. ABC10's Alex Bell sat down with Sameea Kamal, a political reporter at CalMatters — a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization — who's been covering the political push in school board elections.
Below is a transcript of part of their conversation.
Alex Bell: Let's start with the California Republican Party. How have they really changed the landscape of school board elections?
Sameea Kamal: We don't typically see the state parties getting involved in these local races. You know, you might see county parties endorse candidates, but the California Republican Party has this program called 'Parent Revolt.' They were recruiting candidates, they were providing information, best practices on tips for running, how to succeed who should run and this program was new.
Alex Bell: So what's the end goal here for California Republicans, what is the strategy, and why do they want to get school board candidates in the seat?
Sameea Kamal: There are two goals. One is to build a back bench of candidates who might run for higher office later on, and that's part of like this big picture strategy of reinforcing and growing the California Republican Party. But it's also trying to get more people out to the ballot box who might not be voting.
Alex Bell: How effective are their recruiting candidates? How's the program operating?
Sameea Kamal: The California Republican Party hasn't shared how many people have been recruited. Some of the summer virtual events that were held posted about 100 people each.
Alex Bell: Democrats, what are they doing? What is their strategy? Are they also trying to get candidates in these seats? And do they have a program similar to Parent Revolt or anything like it?
Sameea Kamal: The Democratic Party in California does not have an equivalent counterpart program. They do have a national program where they are trying to make sure no race goes uncontested.
Alex Bell: I want to talk about school board districts themselves. How do they feel about all of this? I mean, school board races are becoming not just popular but also politicized and contentious at this point.
Sameea Kamal: Yeah, I think it's a bit nerve wracking. There is an increased fear... nervousness about threats, anger at these meetings, like the need for security. I know some school board officials called in their local Democratic Party to come in and assure the members and the candidates that it's safe to run.
'School boards have always been a little bit ignored'
"Oftentimes, parents have strong opinions about what is going on in their children's schools," said Carol Lloyd, editorial director GreatSchools. "But they're not always as represented as one might think, in the school board.
It's really important for parents to understand this isn't only a place to go argue about something that is immediate, that is bothering you now. But this is really a chance for a group of people to sort of look into the future and decide how we can improve all kids' access to better learning experiences across the board.
School boards have always been a little bit ignored, so I think there's an opportunity, right now, since school boards are suddenly getting this focus that we understand how important they are. But the downside of that is that they can become distracted away from really fundamental learning issues. Like, are the kids learning to read? Are the kids learning to do math? Are the schools physically safe? You know, these fundamental things that like 99.9% of all parents would agree, no matter what their politics are, they would agree that these are fundamental things that schools need to do. I think that one of the problems sometimes is if the adults go out, fighting around one issue, schools are complex places, and they're trying to do a lot. I think that some of the frustration with teachers and educators now is that they've seen their work come into a sort of a political focus, but they're like, 'But wait, I still need support for Johnny because he still can't read at grade level.'
I think a lot of times when people are fired up about one issue and then they get into the job, they realize it's more complex. I think that may be happening across our country as new people come into power in the school boards and start to learn about what the job really is."
