News articles & Editorials
"Efforts by conservative groups pushing national Republican talking points about 'parental rights,' 'gender ideology' and 'critical race theory' were met in Illinois with an unprecedented pushback from the state Democratic Party, which pledged nearly $300,000 to oppose candidates it labeled 'extremists.' Teachers unions also took a more active role in campaigning this spring.
While mail-in ballots are still arriving and being counted, Democrats and teachers unions this week were declaring victory, with the state party boasting a 72% success rate and the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, touting that nearly 90% of its recommended candidates won.
From Oswego to Barrington to Downers Grove to Lyons Township and beyond, organized slates of conservative candidates backed by right-wing groups such as Awake Illinois, Moms for Liberty and the national 1776 Project Political Action Committee saw defeat, according to unofficial election results."
"In a contentious race that hit upon many of the culture war issues being debated across the country and drew the attention of national conservative groups and the state Democratic party, it was the candidate preaching unity who claimed the most votes Tuesday.
With provisional and late-arriving mail ballots left to be counted, Diana L. Clopton was the top vote-getter in the race for three seats on the Barrington Area Community Unit District 220 board, according to unofficial results.
Clopton received 4,100 votes, and incumbents Barry Altshuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari were in second and third, with 4,085 and 4,057 votes, respectively.
Just behind are three candidates who ran as a slate: Katey Baldassano, with 3,935 votes; Matt Sheriff, with 3,728 votes; and Leonard Munson, with 3,628 votes.
Nelda Munoz sits seventh, with 950 votes.
Clopton said her campaign was about reflecting all of the community members' voices and not just the loudest."
"Two incumbents and one newcomer held a slight edge in the contentious Barrington Community Unit District 220 board of education race late Tuesday.
As of midnight, Diana L. Clopton led slightly with 4,100 votes, followed closely by the race's two incumbents, Barry Altshuler with 4,085 and Leah Collister-Lazzari with 4,057 votes, according to the unofficial totals. Seven candidates are running for three, 4-year seats.
Challengers Katey Baldassano, Matt Sheriff and Leonard Munson, who are running as a slate, were close behind with 3,935 votes, 3,728 votes and 3,628 votes, respectively. Another challenger, Nelda Munoz, had 950 votes."
Read full article here: https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20230404/altshuler-collister-lazzari-and-clopton-lead-in-district-220?fbclid=IwAR39mEG723113gQcarWlHB-NN0BxRsi7zDGRQ8dnimvQi9yqw1oXSjRSFTk
Dear Colleagues:
Illinois educators have a lot to be proud of. According to U.S. News & World Report, our state ranks #6 in the nation for prek-12 education. Six Illinois districts are among the top 20 public school districts in the nation, including claiming the top two spots. Last year, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (aka “The Nation’s Report Card”) showed that our students scored above the national average in both reading and math for Grades 4 and 8, while many other states saw declines. And we rank #11 for youth mental health.
So why does Illinois have an average proficiency rate of 30.1%? What does that mean?
Illinois has the most rigorous standards in the nation. Each state measures “proficiency” differently. It’s like comparing home runs across ballparks with vastly different outfields or comparing someone’s mile time on a flat track versus mountain terrain.
Being "proficient” in Illinois requires much more than reading on grade level. Our standards include a depth and breadth of higher order language arts skills, including writing, logic, critical thinking, and analysis. Out of five levels, only the top two count as “proficient” in Illinois. These high standards guide us to ensure our students are truly ready for rigorous content at the next grade level.
School context also matters. National research shows that schools’ proficiency rates strongly correlate to the income levels of the families they serve. The schools that serve historically under-resourced communities, students in alternative schools, and high numbers of English Learners (who take these federally required accountability assessments in English, even though they have not yet mastered the language) have a steeper hill to climb to reach “proficiency” but are often achieving incredible things, as measured by graduation rates, the Seal of Biliteracy, participation in Advanced Placement, and other indicators.
That does not mean each school does not have room to grow. And we are growing. During the pandemic, the starting line got moved back significantly, but last school year, Illinois schools experienced accelerated growth, meaning they learned more and faster than in a typical pre-pandemic year. They may not have crossed that “finish line” into proficiency, but they made enormous progress given where they started.
As lawmakers are developing the fiscal year 2024 budget, we are advocating for funding to continue accelerating students’ growth and closing gaps: funding to expand high-quality preschool programs, so all children have access to the opportunities they need to be prepared for kindergarten, investments in Evidence-Based Funding to address historic inequities, and grants for districts with chronic teacher shortages. We are administering high-impact tutoring statewide to get students back on track from the pandemic. And last but not least, we are supporting the educators who show up every day to help our students succeed.
I encourage all schools to take this opportunity to share your story behind the data. The people pushing a narrative of failure are not connected to the reality within our schools. We have the opportunity in sharing our stories to do what we do best – to educate.
All my best,
Tony
(Dr. Tony Sanders, State Superintendent of Illinois Schools)
State schools superintendent asked about school board “culture wars”
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Newly appointed State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders was interviewed this week on the 21st Show…
Q: As you no doubt know, the schools have become a sort of, what would you say, a flashpoint in the culture wars? Every week there are these stories where school administrators and teachers are being protested, people yelling at school board meetings. We’re actually having a conversation on the program later this week about school board candidates across the state espousing right-wing rhetoric. How do you address that? Or has it been ever thus? Right? How do you think about the idea that the schools have become this flashpoint in the so called culture wars in America?
Supt. Sanders: It saddens me actually, schools are apolitical. Schools are places where students go to learn critical thinking skills. This debate over CRT, which some think is critical race theory, and others say CRT is culturally responsive teaching, two entirely different things. But unfortunately, they get confused by the general public. And we do want culturally responsive teaching practices within our schools. At the same time, critical race theory is not something that’s introduced to students until they are working either on a master’s or a doctorate. And so I think it’s unfortunate that the general public makes the schools the center politics when it should not be.
Q: On that note, Illinois has implemented a number of new teaching requirements. There’s Black history, Asian history. Some say, particularly in the Republican Party in Illinois, that it’s too much, it’s too much meddling from the state in what is happening in individual classrooms. What do you think about that?
Supt. Sanders: So I think that our curriculum should uplift every child in the state of Illinois before these other bills that you just referenced, that were enacted into legislation to teach about African-American history or Asian American history. For decades, we’ve had a state law that says that we have to teach about the Irish famine. We’ve had laws that talk about Mexican deportation. So in terms of curricular mandates, there’s about 40 to 50 curricular mandates that have been on the books for years that are appropriate, and the right things for kids to be learning. I see no difference with adding these latest curriculum requirements. And I don’t even think they should be requirements. I think it’s just something that school districts need to do as part of their work, is to make sure that we’re uplifting everybody’s culture within our curriculum. Who among us doesn’t want to see their culture representative the curriculum?
(Please pardon all transcription errors.)
* WBEZ had a recent story centered on a Barrington school board slate…
Their plan to raise scores, the candidates said, is to scrutinize what is taught in schools. They contend that certain lessons, such as Illinois’ social-emotional learning and sex ed standards, are based on harmful ideologies and are distracting students from academics.
“Education isn’t political,” said one candidate, Leonard Munson. “We’ve got to get back to Christian values.”
Munson and the two other Action PAC-endorsed candidates, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff, also said they worry about local tax dollars, noting that between 50% and 60% of property taxes go to schools. They want to look for opportunities to maximize efficiency and cut the budget. […]
In several Chicago suburbs, slates of candidates have been telling a similar narrative about their districts: wasteful spending, plus lower test scores caused by distracting ideological lessons on sex, gender, mental health and diversity. In Barrington and a few other suburban districts, they also have the support of well-funded political action committees with multiple contributions of over $1,000.
Awake Illinois, a statewide conservative parent group, is leading the charge on many of these issues, opposing Illinois’ sex ed standards to prevent students from becoming what it calls “sexualized illiterate radicals.” This fall and winter, it hosted candidate training sessions led by the Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based organization that trains conservative candidates around the country. Awake Illinois says it has identified over 75 candidates for potential endorsements.
Illinois Families for Public Schools has compiled a list of a lot of groups that are pushing school board candidates. Click here if you’re interested.
* From the Richard Uihlein-funded 1776 Project PAC…
* Daily Herald…
Pritzker’s effort to influence school board races has drawn criticism from Republican leaders, including Lake County Republican Party Chair Keith Brin.
“Our school boards shouldn’t be partisan, and our schools shouldn’t be political,” Brin said. “Gov. Pritzker is forcing partisan politics onto our local schools while trying to force his ideology onto local communities who ought to be able to set their own priorities for their schools.”
The Lake County Republican Party held a candidate training session for prospective school board members earlier this year. Back to the Daily Herald…
Mark Cramer, running for reelection to the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board, is one of four candidates endorsed by the local conservative group Citizens for Kids Education (C4KE). He also received a $6,000 donation from Richard Uihlein last year, and another $6,000 this year from Palatine Township GOP leader David Prichard. […]
“Pritzker is trying to define any Republican as a radical right-winger,” Cramer said. “He wants to drive the wedge. He wants this culture war to continue.”
Source: CapitolFax.com
- Top from left, Barry Altshuler, Katey Baldassano, Diana L. Clopton, Leah Collister-Lazzari, and bottom from left, Nelda Munoz, Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff are candidates for the Barrington Area Unit School District 220 board of education.
Steve Zalusky 3/14/2023 6:04 PM
While most of the challengers running for seats on the Barrington Area Unit School District 220 board of education say district finances could be handled better, a pair of incumbents seeking reelection maintain they have been good stewards of taxpayers' dollars.
Seven candidates are running for three, four-year terms on the board in the April 4 election. They include incumbents Barry Altshuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari; newcomers Matt Sheriff, Leonard Munson and Katey Baldassano, running together as a slate; Nelda Munoz; and Diana L. Clopton.
Sheriff said the district is well-funded, but its money is not well-managed. "When I'm out talking to taxpayers, they don't know where a lot of the money's going," he said.
But Altshuler said that despite dealing with higher costs, the board works to tighten its spending every year. He said he wants to avoid cuts to core curriculum programs and excessive class sizes. "If we're going to make big cuts in the budget, that's where the cuts are going to have to be," Altshuler said "And that's a difficult thing to try and sell to the community."
Baldassano, a school administrator in West Chicago Elementary School District 33, said she would like to see the school board look more critically at spending.
Collister-Lazzari, said she would consider "reasonable" spending cuts.
"(But) I would be very careful about cutting staff to increase class sizes unreasonably or to cut programs that are directly connected to our curriculum," she added. "I don't want to make irresponsible cuts."
Collister-Lazzari said that federal COVID relief funding that helped the district hire psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and counselors will soon go away, but it will remain important to support the mental health of students.
Munson said the district needs to examine spending in areas such as its school bus contract and administrative costs. "We just voted for another tax increase (in 2020)," he said. "I get that we are in a high inflationary period. As a business owner, even in a high inflationary period, I can't continue to push that down onto my (customers)."
Challenger Nelda Munoz said she believes the district should spend more to support teachers, and supports hiring more of them. "Each parent pays anywhere between $200 to $400 for school supplies in the classroom per child. Now, teachers are given $50 per classroom for supplies. How does that math work?" she said.
Diana L. Clopton, took a different view from the other challengers, saying the district is doing well financially. "We have had a AAA bond rating for many years, and I think the district has done a great job of trying to balance the needs of the district with the budget," she said. School officials should annually assess programs and class sizes to look for opportunities to streamline, but shouldn't make wholesale cuts that potentially damage the district.
Daily Herald report 3/13/2023 5:30 AM
With significant financial support from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois' Democratic Party is getting involved in contests for school and library board seats this spring to combat what party officials call "really extreme candidates," including some backed by conservative groups.
Pritzker's campaign committee, which has been nearly entirely self-funded by the billionaire governor, made a $500,000 donation to the state Democratic organization Feb. 27, Illinois State Elections Board records show.
The cash will be used to raise awareness of the April 4 consolidated election and counter candidates Democrats fear could be elected without much of a fight, a Pritzker campaign staffer familiar with the plan said.
"Now, thanks to the support of Dick Uihlein and fringe groups like Awake Illinois, extreme Republicans hellbent on banning books, rewriting history, and ignoring public health are running for school and library board seats all across Illinois," Natalie Edelstein, communications director for the JB for Governor campaign, said in a statement. "We won't sit idly by and allow these radical candidates to waltz into public office without a fight."
Pritzker's involvement is another example of how nonpartisan school board races -- amid lingering discord from COVID-19 mitigations and fierce debate over sex ed curriculum and library books -- are feeling the influence of party politics.
The governor was asked about his decision to get involved when he appeared last week on the CBS news program "Face the Nation."
"Well, what Republicans are trying to do is, of course, ban books in libraries," Pritzker replied. "They're trying to keep our schools from teaching Black history. They make up things about CRT (Critical Race Theory) in schools that just don't exist. And so they have got a lot of extreme right-wing candidates, frankly, on the crazy end of things that are running. And we just want to make sure that people know who they are and know not to vote for them."
Pritzker's effort to influence school board races has drawn criticism from Republican leaders, including Lake County Republican Party Chair Keith Brin.
"Our school boards shouldn't be partisan, and our schools shouldn't be political," Brin said. "Gov. Pritzker is forcing partisan politics onto our local schools while trying to force his ideology onto local communities who ought to be able to set their own priorities for their schools."
Democrats say they are particularly concerned about candidates backed by Awake Illinois, a Naperville group that has criticized suburban drag events, opposed mask mandates and -- as recently as this month -- has repeatedly called Pritzker "a groomer" for signing a controversial law updating sex education standards in K-12 schools.
Why your vote matters more than ever for schools, libraries
By Jim Edgar, Jesse White and Cheri Bustos
3/12/2023 3:35 PM
Misinformation and disinformation are making it almost impossible for parents and community members to form common-sense opinions in battles over school curriculum.
Classroom teachers, as well as school and public librarians are trying to figure out how to referee between the First Amendment and proposed book bans. Educators, school and library board members report threats to themselves and their families. School board members have almost gotten into a fist fight after an acrimonious board meeting. Accomplished and respected school superintendents, teachers, public librarians and board members are resigning because of irreconcilable differences.
Sadly, these shocking scenarios have become everyday occurrences in school and library districts across Illinois -- and the nation. Indeed, public schools and libraries have become one of the biggest battlegrounds in the so-called "culture wars" and the cancerous polarization they bolster.
Clearly, the foundational pillars of democracy -- schools and libraries -- are being threatened by this conduct. Regardless of our political affiliation, we should all be able to agree that students of all ages must be our first priority, and that divisive politics have no place in our schools and libraries.
Divide and conquer is no way to govern public education and libraries, and it is setting a horrible example for our children and grandchildren. It is also making it impossible for classroom teachers and librarians to do their jobs, as children are seeing and learning grievance, resentment and disrespect, rather than civics and civil discourse.
Remember when, not so long ago, public education was about giving our kids the opportunity to learn, explore and acquire skills for a career and life? Wasn't it once laudable that public education allowed young people to better understand different points of view, so they can make informed judgments throughout life? How did we allow ourselves to end up in a place where "my way or the highway" dominates?
COVID did not create the anger and polarization that we're seeing every day in our politics and public discourse; but it did exacerbate the intensity and ugliness. The other thing that has happened during the pandemic, according to numerous studies, is that many students in our public schools have fallen behind. So, this is precisely the moment when we should be lifting up public education and the libraries that enhance the learning experience.
In a matter of weeks, voters in school and library districts in communities across our state will have the opportunity to choose board members to serve as stewards of policies and finances that guide these vitally important institutions. Frequently, municipal races are low-turnout elections. We hope that is not the case this time around. There is simply too much at stake for shrugs and disconnection.
We urge voters to make the time and effort to learn about the candidates running for school and library boards in your district; understand what positions they're taking; and vote for those whose approaches are constructive rather than destructive.
A generation from now, citizens will be looking back to understand what happened to our public schools and libraries in post-pandemic America. Will they see how shouting, bullying and false narrative destroyed the pillars of education and learning? Or, will they see that communities lifted their school and library boards above polarization and acrimony, putting students and educators first, where they belong?
The answer, Illinois voters, is in your hands.
• Republican Jim Edgar is former governor of Illinois (1991-1999). Democrat Jesse White was Illinois secretary of state (1998-2022). Democrat Cheri Bustos is former U.S. representative from Illinois' 17th congressional district (2013 to 2023).
Source:
Conservative groups provide money and training to suburban school board candidates while progressive opponents struggle to catch up.
By Char Daston, Amy Qin
Mar. 9, 6 a.m. CTUpdated 11:20 a.m. CT
On a chilly February night in northwest suburban Barrington, candidates, activists and others gathered at the town’s Campus Life Center, a student gathering space for middle and high schoolers.
After much anticipation, a slate of candidates for three open seats on the Barrington school board took the stage. The trio of concerned parents are running in one of the hundreds of suburban elections scheduled for April 4.
This slate of candidates for the K-12 district, backed by funds from a local political action committee called Action PAC, say they’re worried about test results. Barrington’s 2022 scores on state elementary exams are down compared to pre-pandemic levels, as they are across the state. But scores remain nearly twice the state average.
Their plan to raise scores, the candidates said, is to scrutinize what is taught in schools. They contend that certain lessons, such as Illinois’ social-emotional learning and sex ed standards, are based on harmful ideologies and are distracting students from academics.
“Education isn’t political,” said one candidate, Leonard Munson. “We’ve got to get back to Christian values.”
Munson and the two other Action PAC-endorsed candidates, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff, also said they worry about local tax dollars, noting that between 50% and 60% of property taxes go to schools. They want to look for opportunities to maximize efficiency and cut the budget.
This slate of candidates in Barrington are part of a larger trend. In Illinois and around the country, groups of conservative candidates are banding together in an attempt to get elected to their local school boards.
In several Chicago suburbs, slates of candidates have been telling a similar narrative about their districts: wasteful spending, plus lower test scores caused by distracting ideological lessons on sex, gender, mental health and diversity. In Barrington and a few other suburban districts, they also have the support of well-funded political action committees with multiple contributions of over $1,000.
Awake Illinois, a statewide conservative parent group, is leading the charge on many of these issues, opposing Illinois’ sex ed standards to prevent students from becoming what it calls “sexualized illiterate radicals.” This fall and winter, it hosted candidate training sessions led by the Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based organization that trains conservative candidates around the country. Awake Illinois says it has identified over 75 candidates for potential endorsements.
Opponents of these conservative candidates are struggling to catch up. Some candidates have personal PACs, but there is less fundraising and no state or national connections. But that could soon change. The Democratic Party of Illinois in late February said it plans for the first time in recent memory to spend money in local school board elections. The hope is to intervene in districts like Barrington with large fundraising gaps between conservative and progressive candidates.
How partisanship plays a role in nonpartisan races
At the start of the recent Barrington Action PAC meet-the-candidates event, Rosanna Klusmeyer, the PAC chair, told the crowd the organization was grassroots and nonpartisan (all of the April 4 local elections are officially nonpartisan).
But campaign fundraising records tell a different story. In January, the group collected $36,000 in contributions of $1,000 or higher. These included $5,000 from Bryan Croll, husband of Barrington Township Republican Organization vice president Josie Croll, and $5,000 from former Republican candidate for governor Gary Rabine.
There are other conservative connections as well. Marsha McClary, an Action PAC supporter who collected signatures for all three candidates, also chairs the Lake County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative organization.
In an interview at the event, Munson said he’s not concerned about Action PAC’s connections to Republicans. Klusmeyer also said she’s not concerned about her PAC’s contributors, adding “This is a nonpartisan election and we have Republicans, Democrats and independents amongst our supporters. I will talk to anyone.”
Sheriff and McClary declined to comment, and Baldassano did not respond to multiple interview requests. Like conservatives, progressive candidates also tend to get the lion’s share of their financial and organization support from Democrats in nonpartisan races, though Action PAC’s liberal opponents all say they’ve raised a small fraction compared to the PAC’s funds.
So far this election cycle, much of the organization on the progressive side has not been fundraising. Instead, loose networks of parents have focused on guerilla opposition research of candidates they oppose, hoping to turn off moderate voters by highlighting candidates with connections to Awake Illinois and other conservative organizations.
These activists include a parent in the western suburb of Downers Grove. Kylie Spahn is promoting her preferred candidates in District 99 by spreading information about two candidates she opposes. One of them, Barbara Allen, was among the parents who sought to remove the book Gender Queer from a school library, but she doesn’t make that part of her campaign.
“I would say 90% of our community supports our LGBTQ community, supports having a diverse curriculum” Spahn said.
Spahn is supporting a slate of candidates who bill themselves as bipartisan. Running on a platform of diversity and inclusion, the candidates include Kara Casten, wife of Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, along with Don Renner, a lawyer who told the Chicago Tribune he’s a Republican, and Ken Dawson.
Interest and outrage pour into school board races
In the three years since the pandemic began, school board races across the country have become ideological battlegrounds, with fights over masking morphing into divisive conflicts over book bans, critical race theory and sex ed.
In Illinois, this may explain a bump since the start of the pandemic in candidates running for school board races in DuPage County, which covers a large swath of the western suburbs. The county was once a Republican stronghold, but as the range of residents’ political views broadens, elections where no candidate runs unopposed are on the rise.
In the three elections prior to the pandemic, in 2015, 2017 and 2019, less than half of school board races were competitive, meaning there were fewer candidates running than spots available, a WBEZ analysis finds. In the two pandemic elections since, that’s flipped. Roughly 60% of school board races in DuPage County were competitive in 2021 and will be again in the upcoming April 4 election.
In suburban Cook County, there was little change in competitive races before or after the pandemic began, WBEZ found. But in Barrington, which is partially in Cook, and a few other hotspots of conservative organizing, interest in the school board seats has bucked that trend. Some 18 total candidates in Barrington have filed to run in the two races since the pandemic began. Only 12 ran in the two cycles before the pandemic.
In Barrington, incumbents face a well-funded PAC
In Barrington, a 2022 struggle over access to books has cast a shadow on this April’s election. Last fall, the District 220 school board narrowly voted to keep three books on the shelves of the high school library: Gender Queer, Flamer and This Book is Gay. All three books tell the story of young LGBTQ people and contain explicit depictions or discussions of queer sex. The district allows parents to bar their children from checking out books they find objectionable.
Still, the Action PAC-endorsed candidates represent a faction of parents who say the board failed to respond to their concerns. They say it’s another issue forced by school board members who care more about ideology than academics and test scores. At the meet-the-candidates event in February, Baldassano proposed that the school board create a system for removing all sexually-explicit material from the library.
Compared to Action PAC, incumbent and pediatrician Barry Altshuler tells a markedly different story about the Barrington school district. In an interview with WBEZ, he did not mention test scores, saying “we’ve maintained a high quality of education despite some of the rocky things that have happened over the last three years.” He isn’t worried about wasteful spending, saying board members have been “very good financial stewards of the community.” He cites the district’s balanced budget and AAA bond rating.
Altshuler and another incumbent, parent Leah Collister-Lazzari, are helping each other’s campaigns. Their priorities include more diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and building a new fine arts center.
Both board members voted to keep the controversial books in the library. After reading each book with a focus group of parents and teachers, they concluded the potential value for queer students outweighed their explicit images. “We need to make all of our students feel welcome and safe,” Altshuler said. “That means having literature in the library that might appeal to just a couple of students, but is going to help them in some way.”
He and Collister-Lazzari remember audience members yelling at meetings, and Altshuler said he and the other board members were assigned police escorts to their cars after the vote on Gender Queer. “Before one of our meetings in closed session we went around the room and everyone was stressed. That’s just not good, and it’s not normal,” Collister-Lazzari said.
Rachel Forsyth-Tuerck, a Barrington parent who is running for library board this year, also witnessed the pandemonium at board meetings. She decided to speak up in favor of keeping the books, and she began introducing herself to the few people who agreed with her. From those introductions, a loose network of parents started to form. “People who are not part of [Action PAC] are reaching out to each other. We’re linking elbows like Red Rover.”
Forsyth-Tuerck is helping Altshuler and Collister-Lazzari’s campaigns. Some of her fellow activists are doing opposition research, like obtaining school board candidates’ signature petitions and records of campaign contributions to Action PAC.
Illinois Democrats get involved
In a new development, parents like Forsyth-Tuerck won’t be the only force trying to counter outside conservative spending and training targeting school board contests.
Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Ben Hardin said the party has identified just over 60 school districts with what he calls “fringe candidates” who are either connected to outside conservative groups or support their agendas. The party will help opponents of these conservative candidates by offering mailers, online ads, and advice from its political consultants.
“We were made aware of groups with national funding bases, like Moms for Liberty, actively recruiting candidates,” Hardin said. “They’re targeting these low-information elections to support agendas contrary to our values.”
The Democrats haven’t announced which races they will choose, and it remains to be seen if candidates in these officially nonpartisan races will accept the help.
It’s clear, though, that political organizers across the political spectrum see school boards in a new light: as important seats of local political power.
Char Daston covers education for WBEZ. Follow him @behindthissky and @WBEZeducation
Amy Qin is a data reporter for WBEZ. Follow her at @amyqin12.
This story was updated to clarify that the loose network of parents described by Rachel Forsyth-Tuerck are not anti-conservative.
Source:
