Update on School Board Elections 

In school board elections across the country in April, scores of right wing candidates were defeated. In Illinois, 70% of school-board candidates endorsed by the Democratic party won their races and in Wisconsin only eight of the candidates endorsed by the wealthy conservative organization, Moms For Liberty, won. The 1776 Project, a political action committee that received funding from Richard Uihlein, a billionaire GOP donor, said only a third of the 63 candidates it had backed in Illinois and Wisconsin won their races. 

This is good news, but we must stay focused on these local elections. Moms For Liberty is the organization most associated with book banning. They have compiled a list of 850 books that should never be in any school library or taught in any school class. Variations of this list have been used in a number of ways, including by Texas state representative Matt Krause who sent it to school districts, asking that they report how many copies they have of each title and how much had been spent on those books. Most of the books relate to race or gender equality and go along with the far right’s efforts to prevent teaching about race and racism in schools.

With other states holding school board elections later this year, these victories give hope that the majority of people are in favor of giving their children high quality education which often includes being exposed to a variety of ideas and teaching them to think for themselves.

This is part two of a two-part series on the importance of school board elections. To read the first article, click here.