A school board election lament
Well, the 2023 elections are over (or happening as we speak, depending on when you’re reading this), which means we get to spend the next year arguing over two people who were both alive at the same time as famed science fiction author H.G. Wells, who was born in 1866.
Yes. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say about the forthcoming disaster that is Biden-Trump II, the worst sequel since Teen Wolf Too, but today, I want to revisit something I wrote about a few weeks ago: How New Jersey’s school board elections have turned into a culture battle.
On this Wednesday morning (or Tuesday, whaddya want, I publish online before print), I‘m sure Facebook feeds the state over will be filled with equal measures of shock, horror, and joy, as some school boards almost certainly flipped. Some got more liberal, some more conservative.
In fact, according to an Advance Media article, New Jersey Project, an advocacy group that is decidedly conservative, was endorsing over 480 candidates for school boards across the state.
What does the New Jersey Project want? According to their website, they want to return “home rule” for public schools, get rid of “invasive” questionnaires, activist teachers, and the new sex ed standards in the state.
Agree with them? Disagree with them? OK. Cool.
And then there’s the teacher’s union itself, the NJEA. According to NorthJersey.com, the NJEA spent the fourth most money this election season, nearly $2 million. (They spent it through their PAC, Garden State Forward, which is funded solely through NJEA dues, according to the article.)
The bulk of the money went to other PACs that were backing Democratic legislative candidates in contested areas.
Agree with the NJEA? Disagree with them? OK. Cool.
OK. So now we know. Big money is being spent in New Jersey in the name of school board races.
School board races. SCHOOL. BOARD. RACES. This, in a state that has the number-one ranked K-12 education, according to U.S. News & World Report. And according to Scholaroo.com. And third according to WalletHub.com. And on and on.
To be clear: New Jersey is the best, or near the best, when it comes to public schools in the nation. This isn’t a “agree or disagree” thing. This is a fact.
And now, in recent years, we’ve taken our adult issues and transposed them over school board elections. We’ve taken what is a non-paying gig that is clearly meant for people who care deeply about education and have allowed it to turn into the same non-paying gig that is now being overrun with people who are fighting culture wars.
So here’s my humble request for all school board elections going forward: Don’t vote for a school board member because of their stance on transgendered kids. Don’t vote for a school board member because of their stance on sex. Don’t vote for a school board member based on their stance on what books they think students should have access to.
Instead, vote for a school board member because of their stance on — wait for it — education. You know, learning stuff. I know. Shocking.