Lacking the ability to win statewide races, conservative activists have taken their fight to local school boards. Confrontations over vaccine and mask mandates have given way to what can and should be taught to children about race and gender in schools. LA Times Sacramento bureau chief Laura Rosenthal wrote about the heated school board battles up and down the state. She joined Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today.”
Heated school board meetings became somewhat the norm during pandemic lockdowns, Rosenhall said.
“There was a lot of frustration about school closures. I think a lot of parents started organizing with each other and forming new networks, maybe not initially thought of as political networks, but it became a way to kind of fight for schools to reopen,” Rosenhall said. “And then that continued in with vaccines and masks. So parents sort of really formed new political structures and community networks that maybe hadn’t existed previously.”
One state assemblyman introduced controversial legislation at the state level that was shot down. But similar acts have been successful in California’s conservative pockets.
“Assemblyman Bill Essayli brought legislation earlier this year that would have required school districts to inform parents if a child is using a gender identity at school that’s different than what’s on their birth certificate. This policy is a complete nonstarter for Democrats who control the Capitol… the bill literally didn’t even get brought up for a vote,” Rosenhall said. “The same policy that went nowhere in the state capital was has now been passed in two school districts in Chino and Murietta.”
In Temecula, the school board saw pushback against instruction on LGBTQ+ issues in the classroom. Rosenhall explained how Gov. Gavin Newsom has responded to this trend.
“On the curriculum issue, Newsom hasn’t had a very forceful response. He threatened to fine the school district. He said the state was going to send these textbooks down to Temecula, but the school board didn’t want. On the parent notification issue, it’s been a little different on that one. Newsom is saying that he’s working with the LGBTQ caucus in the state legislature. They’re looking at whether they can do anything, but they haven’t quite committed to any response,” she said.
Some experts are concerned about the impacts of restricting circular or mandating schools to notify parents of students’ gender identities.
“The central tension here is between parents who feel like they know what’s best for their kids and they want to have a lot of control and say over what’s going on in these children’s personal lives and school districts that worry about the potential for abuse, harm, neglect,” Rosenhall said.
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