A decade ago, of eligible voters participated in Albuquerque’s local school board elections. But things changed in 2019, after New Mexico moved its local elections from February to November. This year, suggest at least a third of eligible voters helped choose the individuals charged with overseeing – and perhaps improving – the city’s schools. That’s worth celebrating, even if we the outcome of this particular election.

In a 2021 Education Next , 39% of American adults said they didn’t know if their local school board members were elected (nearly all are), and another 5% said they were appointed (which isn’t typical). Yet, despite Americans’ confusion, local school boards  decide how the hundreds of billions of dollars the U.S. devotes to K-12 education are spent, who becomes superintendent and which reading, math, science, and social studies curricula local schools use.

Stakes like those should command the attention of parents and taxpayers. Yet, in practice, turnout for school board elections is often pitifully low. In New Jersey, where the public schools serve more than 40,000 students, only 2.8% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2024 school board election. Meanwhile, nearly 70% of Newark students are reading below grade level.

In a recent study conducted by Michael Hartney and David Houston and published by our organization, , we asked more than 5,000 school board members in more than 3,000 school districts across the country about their views on education issues such as school choice and curriculum.

The results confirm what many families feel: School boards are insulated from the communities they serve. For example, 25% of school board members are current or former public school teachers – a dynamic that can make hearings feel like internal staff meetings, albeit the kind that are periodically interrupted by angry parents.

Or consider the racial composition of boards. While the percentage of Americans who are white has declined by 10 percentage points since 2001, the percentage of white board members has risen ever-so-slightly. Meanwhile, the percentage who are Hispanic has barely budged, and the share who are Black has actually declined.

Strikingly, most board members admit that their elections aren’t competitive: Just one in five describe them as “vigorously contested.” Consequently, they also diverge from the public on major issues. For example, 75% of board members give their local schools an A or a B, compared to 51% of all U.S. adults. Meanwhile, just 29% of board members support charter schools, compared to 45% of the public.

This disconnect is not inevitable, but it is structural. Which means that fixing it requires more than a snappy campaign slogan or a good election cycle.

First and perhaps most importantly, the with “asynchronous” school board elections should follow New Mexico’s example and move them so they coincide with general elections, which have much higher turnout and are thus more representative.

Second, secretaries of state and local election offices should include school board elections in their official voter guides, so they are more visible to and accessible by voters who aren’t attending every local board meeting.

Finally, education reform groups and community organizations should actively recruit and support a broader, more representative pool of candidates who better reflect their increasingly diverse communities and their perspectives.

From budgets to bus routes, local school board elections have important consequences. Making them more democratic – by boosting turnout, helping voters who want to make informed decisions grasp the stakes and ensuring that every community has a voice – is a messy but essential step towards public schools that work.

According to multiple studies, anywhere between and of citizens show up to cast their ballot for school board candidates. This low turnout has made it easy for political actors to use these seats in ways that often .Ěý

Take, for example, the Virginia Beach City school board. In May, the board voted 6-5 to to that districts roll back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming and initiatives — a decision that can impact everything from diverse teacher recruitment programs to what is taught in American history. Students of color make up in the district. Four of the six board members voting for the rollback, all of them white, were elected in an off-cycle election that saw just .Ěý

School board seats carry a lot of weight. Members don’t just hire superintendents and approve budgets, they also work closely with district leaders to make and approve interpretations of state and federal policy. They decide on critical , and work closely with district experts to approve curriculum and content and determine policies on things like school assignment plans, discipline and how to address performance gaps — all of which can have a big impact on Black and Brown students.

There are more than across roughly 14,000 districts who hold these responsibilities. They have the agency to affect change more than most any other governing body. And, with the near dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, their responsibilities have become even greater at the same time that state and federal oversight has lessened.Ěý

Do we really want to rely on such a small portion of the population to elect these leaders?

We have to get more people out to vote, and we must demand our school leaders do what is best for the children who live in their district. Yet, serious barriers keep invested families and stakeholders from fully participating.

Students of color make up of the enrollment in public schools, yet school boards are Ěýoverwhelmingly white and than the families they serve. This is despite evidence that diverse boards tend to facilitate .Ěý

Inequitable access to the ballot has people of color from participating in elections. This favors the who is white, affluent and doesn’t have children enrolled in the district. These voters tend to elect incumbents leading districts .

Even if we put aside representation, the fact remains that most candidates are often for the of this local office and have proven themselves toward increasing student outcomes.

Increasing opportunities for all citizens to civilly engage and ensuring a pool of higher quality candidates are recruited and trained on the basics of school governance and policy must happen in lockstep if we are to see increased, and representative turnout.

In 2020, the culture wars shifted voters’ attention to our classrooms. Critical race theory (CRT) became the hot-button issue. My assumption was that the added attention and the absurdity of the anti-CRT craze would inspire champions of equitable education to oppose this movement.

Nope. In one calendar year, acting individually and at the behest of eliminated CRT across all programming and curriculum. , and critical programs were defunded.

At a moment where historical media attention might have helped better inform the voters and get them out to vote, there was still a disconnect at the ballot box. 

Maybe it’s civic illiteracy or a lack of awareness combined with the refrain, “I don’t have kids, I don’t care.” Regardless, , often Democrats, when they vote — meaning they skip over the municipal level races.Ěý

Far-right political actors are taking advantage of this, putting forth candidates for seats who often and throwing toward challenging candidates.

Moms for Liberty, which was founded in 2021, has become known for leveraging low turnout elections. According to data from local government and news sources analyzed by The Brookings Institution, of their endorsed candidates won school board elections in 2022 and 33% won in 2023.

Project 1776, which says its mission is to elect , is embracing a similar tactic. In 2022, three of Project 1776’s endorsed candidates were elected to the Olathe School Board in Kansas in a race that saw In New Jersey’s Ocean City School District, three endorsed candidates won with .

When we consider who votes for school board, the increased turnout in elections like these implies the messaging used by a PAC like Project 1776 is resonating with voters and galvanizing them to the polls.

There is like Moms for Liberty are losing their sway. Nonetheless, who run for reelection win, so we can expect the hundreds of candidates endorsed by these groups and elected based on their regressive platforms to be around for a while until more voters turnout and say otherwise.

Public education is a cornerstone of democracy — and it is clearly being chipped away. America’s 80,000-plus public school board seats are essential for holding together , and they need our attention.

The list of challenges is long, and the work to eliminate them continues. At this moment, though, turning out to vote for your district’s school board members is more important than ever. 

The candidates might not always be perfect, and the for barriers are significant — but protecting education, and therefore our democratic values, begins with exercising our right to vote. 

Originally published by

President-elect Donald Trump is not the only conservative candidate who made a comeback on Election Day. In Temecula, California, former school board president Joseph Komrosky was elected a trustee once again after that brought national attention to the school district about an hour northeast of San Diego.

By just over 200 votes, against his teachers union-backed opponent, David Sola, to obtain a seat on the governing body of the Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD), which . Three other seats on the five-member school board were also up for election. Conservatives won most of these races, giving the school board that has made headlines for its a right-wing majority once again.

Results from the school board election and other races throughout California were just finalized December 3 because state laws and voting-by-mail procedures require more time to process ballots. In major elections, officials have up to a month to certify results.

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Across the country, school boards and states have enacted policies in recent years to ban (CRT), censor books, single out LGBTQ+ youth or ignore the lines between church and state. Temecula is a city with a plurality of Republican voters, and its school board has passed policies more aligned with the rightward shift in public schools in red states than with the liberal ethos of California. The trustees banned curriculum described as CRT and all flags but the American flag, which was widely perceived as a way to prevent Pride flags from being displayed on campuses. The board in May 2023, which . It also backed a plan that would have required school personnel to “out” transgender students to their families. Due to legal action, or the threat of such action, most of these policies were rolled back, but the election outcome places the newly conservative board in prime position to usher in more divisive proposals.

“We did it! We won!!! Praise the Lord,” after the election results were certified. “Thank you Temecula for standing behind me again. Thanks to all of you who supported me during this campaign, as I couldn’t have done it without you. That said, I will continue to protect the innocence of your children at TVUSD.”

Komrosky did not respond to The 19th’s request for comment about his victory, which came as a blow to organizers locally and nationally who mobilized for the recall campaign against him. After Komrosky and two other conservatives joined the five-member school board in 2022, they proceeded to pass policies that sparked public outrage, with footage of parents ejected from heated Temecula school board meetings going viral on social media and directing national attention to a town of nearly 111,000 that had previously been known for its wineries. The board also faced scrutiny when it fired TVUSD Superintendent Jodi McClay without cause. In November, McClay began as superintendent of St. Helena Unified School District near San Francisco.

The three conservatives were all elected with help from Pastor Tim Thompson’s Inland Empire Family PAC, which aims to fill school boards with members of the Christian right. In May, Trump’s son Eric Trump and Kash Patel, his pick to lead the FBI, traveled to Temecula to . That month,

The successful recall against Komrosky and the departure of another conservative board member who relocated to Texas caused the Temecula school board to lose its right-wing majority for much of this year. But now that Komrosky has been elected once again, along with two newcomers who have been described as right-leaning and one liberal-leaning incumbent,  Komrosky’s detractors predict that the school board will likely resume approving policies that split the community and garner negative attention for the city.

One of them is Jeff Pack, cofounder of One Temecula Valley PAC, a political action committee started with the aim of uniting community members across partisan lines.

“Obviously the dangerous part is Komrosky is back on the board,” he said. “We’re disappointed about that, because we … think he’s going to be even more vindictive this time. All he has to do is say a couple of buzzwords that scare people, and we have to thread a whole bunch of needles to convince them that they’re .”

Pack foresees more by the school board, attempts to and possibly the singling out of teachers who don’t subscribe to the trustees’ views.

Edgar Diaz, president of local teachers union Temecula Valley Educators Association (TVEA), won’t hazard a guess about the policies the newly elected conservative board members might enact. He stressed, however, how important it is for all school board members to prioritize students’ educational needs.

“That’s all we’re really focused on, and we’re hoping to work with any school board member, as we did last time, that would help to move forward those goals and set down a path that would allow our district to continue to be successful in educating the students of the community,” he said.

Diaz said that TVEA is made up of educators of all political persuasions but did not discuss why he thought only one of the three candidates backed by the union, incumbent Steven Schwartz, won their races. Fellow incumbent Allison Barclay lost her seat to Melina Anderson, endorsed by the Riverside County Republican Party. A third TVEA-backed candidate, Gary Oddi, lost his race to Emil Roger Barham, also endorsed by the Riverside County Republican Party. Two conservative candidates, Komroksy and Jon Cobb, were endorsed by the Inland Empire Family PAC, but Schwartz defeated the latter contender.

The community divisions over the Temecula school board have attracted activists from , a project of People for the American Way, a nationwide progressive advocacy organization. Grandparents for Truth works to give students the “freedom to learn” by opposing censorship and championing diversity in the classroom, among other issues.

Alana Byrd, national field director for People for the American Way, fears that far right conservatives may be using the same playbook to broadly enact policies, such as religious instruction in public schools, in districts across the country. She said the group is monitoring attempts in states such as in classrooms and Christian stories in the curriculum, respectively.

“As an organization that’s committed to religious liberty, we’re not preaching against the Bible. We’re not preaching against religion at all,” Byrd said. “The problem is that separation of church and state, when it is either mandated or it’s financially incentivized to teach a specific religion as this kind of state-sponsored religion, that’s where it gets really concerning. And I would not be surprised if there seems to be a playbook, if the next thing on Komrosky and his colleagues’ list is to introduce some sort of religious mandate or thinly veiled mandate.”

Despite the success of the recall campaign, Pack said it was an uphill battle for One Temecula Valley and the Temecula Valley Educators Association to stop Komrosky and other right-wing candidates from making it onto the school board. Republicans not only make up a plurality of the electorate in Temecula, but voters in Riverside County, where it is located, narrowly backed Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race. California may be a blue state, but it is home to millions of red voters, with some communities, particularly outside of the state’s major cities, known for their dense concentrations of GOP supporters.

“We did an incredible job,” Pack said of the effort to elect non-extremists to the board. “I think it’s historic for all of the candidates, all of the efforts, the money, the time and just the effort spent on working to get these candidates elected has never been done here. We’re proud of that effort, and we came real close. Hopefully in the future, we’ll be able to get them over the line because I think the community is going to start seeing some of the damage that has already been done and will start affecting the kids and the schools.”

He said the tight race between Komrosky and Sola demonstrates how important it is for the public to vote in school board elections. Some people likely voted for president but not for school board because they didn’t think the local race mattered or don’t have school-age children, Pack said.

“Our mantra has always been that a failed school district is a failed city, a failed community,” he said. “If the school district tanks, then you’re going to start seeing the repercussions of it, even if you don’t have kids. So, yeah, local local elections really do matter, especially at the school level.”

Because taxpayer dollars support schools, Diaz said, all community members should feel invested in school board races.

“Everyone has a voice in that, just like everyone has a voice in who should represent their neighborhood in the city council,” Diaz said.

While Byrd is dismayed by the outcome of the Temecula school board races, she said the work to hold the new trustees accountable and uplift the rights of all students in the district must continue.

“The One Temecula Valley PAC and the activists on the ground as well as Grandparents for Truth will continue to monitor what policies they might introduce and continue to fight back against anything that doesn’t support diversity, doesn’t support the students, doesn’t support the teachers, doesn’t support the families,” she said.

Charter-backed upstart failed in the Nov. 5 elections to unseat , the longtime LAUSD educator and policymaker who won the election and will begin his third and final term on the LA Unified board in January. 

Chang conceded in a message to supporters that he wasn’t going to be able to overcome ł§łŚłółžąđ°ůąđąô˛ő´Ç˛Ô’s 4 percentage point lead. 

Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, who previously helped found charter schools in LA, trailed behind Schmerelson with 48% of the vote, while Schmerelson garnered  52%.

The contest between the two men had the potential to tip the district’s school board away from a 4-3 majority of union-backed members, and impact the board’s handling of several facing LAUSD, including restrictions on charter schools’ use of buildings, which Chang said he’d move to reverse if elected. 

victory is part of a successful election season for many teachers . 

The outspoken former teacher and principal has sided closely with local unions on issues of space and resources for charter schools. His win could mean more headwinds for the nation’s largest charter school sector here moving forward. 

ł§łŚłółžąđ°ůąđąô˛ő´Ç˛Ô’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Two other LA Unified school board races being decided by voters this year were not as close.

For District 1 in South LA, board admin defeated with 71% of the vote, versus 29% for Al-Alim, whom the in the primary over anti-semitic social media. 

For LAUSD Board District 5, which covers parts of Northeast and Southeast LA, union-backed led with 61% of the vote, versus 39% held by Ortiz.

Meanwhile, a majority of LA voters voiced their approval of a to repair and upgrade aging school buildings. 

As of Friday, voters cast 68% of ballots in favor of , which was backed by members of the LAUSD board, district superintendent Alberto Carvalho, the teachers union and local construction groups.  

Measure US would be LAUSD’s largest ever school facilities bond, and would be paid for with property tax increases. It requires a 55% majority in order to pass. 

The Los Angeles County Clerk is still counting votes and is providing daily. 

As of Friday the clerk had recorded more than 3.7 million votes in all the elections held November 5, with roughly 35% of eligible voters still uncounted.

At the end of the last school year, with the teacher contract expiring, the union released an list of demands, asking for even more staffing and a minimum of 9% annual raises for the next four years.

But over the last few months, the budget reality has started to hit home. The district is considering taking out a high-interest $284 million loan to cover this year’s operating budget. And next year, the city will face a shortfall of .

The math is not that complicated. Chicago has more employees and is paying them higher salaries than before the pandemic, even as it has lost student enrollment. According to state data, Chicago added 895 general teachers and 1,140 special education teachers from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Across all categories of teachers and administrators, Chicago added the equivalent of 3,448 more full-time staff members, an increase of 17%.

Chicago Has More Teachers and Administrators

Over the same time period, Chicago lost 38,000 students, a drop of 10.5%. With more employees serving fewer students, the district dramatically lowered its staffing ratios. In elementary schools, for example, it its student-to-teacher ratio from 24.5 to 1 in 2018 to 18.5 to 1 in 2023.

Chicago has also not skimped on salaries for those employees. In 2019, an analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that Chicago already its educators more than any district in the country. That didn’t stop the union from going out on an 11-day strike or eventually winning what then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot called a “” contract that raised the teacher salary schedule by 16% over five years.

But that figure is underselling what actually happened, because individual teachers continued to move up the salary ladder. As an example, consider a new hire who started teaching in Chicago right out of college in 2019-20. That novice would have earned $54,547 the first year. By year five, the salary would have jumped to $67,444, a 24% raise over five years. Of course, pay varies by experience level, but teachers with master’s degrees earned increases of 20% to 38% over the same period. Inflation also rose a lot over that time, but almost all Chicago teachers did better.

In fact, despite adding a lot more new teachers, who tend to come in on the lower end of the salary schedule, average teacher pay in Chicago rose from $68,153 five years ago to nearly $88,000 last year. That’s a five-year increase of $19,055, or 28%.

Chicago Is Paying Higher Salaries

Going forward, the district’s budget office has annual raises of 4% to 5%, and even at that level it already projects a substantial budget deficit. The union is asking for a minimum of 9%, compounded annually for the next four years. That works out to at least a 41% increase, and that’s before taking into account teachers advancing up the salary ladder. District officials estimate these increases would put Chicago into by the end of the contract.

Chicago’s first-ever school board election next month will go a long way toward determining the fate of these proposals. Will Johnson be able to deliver another “historic” win for the teachers union? And if so, how will he pay for it? 

For the first time since the late 1960s, voters will elect half the school board — picking new members to join the five the mayor will appoint — as the district navigates a minefield of budget woes, declining enrollment, school closures, test scores that are still below pre-pandemic levels, and a demand for more charter schools.

On top of all that, the new board will have limited power and will need to split loyalties between voters and the Rhode Island Department of Education, which took control of the district in 2019 and just extended its control for another three years.

That extension by the state Council on Elementary and Secondary Education last month deflated hopes of some the district would return to the city’s control. A release of state control would have given the new board power to govern the schools, not just be an advisory board to Infante-Green.

Even so, 17 candidates are vying for five seats representing different sections of the city in this non—partisan election with no primary. Candidates include four current school board members and others who have previously run for city council but lost.

The Providence Teachers Union has endorsed five candidates, one in each of the five races. Stop The Wait, a charter school advocacy group, has in opposition to those who are union-backed.

Both the union and charter advocates are in an ongoing battle over whether to close schools with falling enrollment and turn the buildings over to charter schools. The debate most recently flared this summer over a proposal to put two charters in a recently-closed district school. Advocates say there is a long waitlist of students seeking spaces in charter schools, while the union says charters drain students and money from the district.

District funding is set by the city and state. And the city, not the board, controls who can use old school buildings, a key issue as charter schools seek facilities to grow. Still, contributions are likely to flow into the school board races, helping candidates on both sides. Campaign donations were not available to review in time for this story.

Though the new board members won’t have much power right away, observers and advocates say their role will still be important.

Brown University Professor John Papay, who has helped advise the district, said the new board can counter Infante-Green’s “clear concerns about the board’s current capacity” to govern.

“The Board, both as individual members and collectively as an institution, must fundamentally focus on building their capacity to constructively support the district,” she wrote the city and board after her decision.

Papay said the board can use the three years to learn best practices of how boards work and improve its interaction with the state and others, which has often been confrontational.

“I’ve heard that people are excited for the school board,” Papay said. “Maybe this election will help…do the work necessary to be able to facilitate the return to local control.”

Others, like charter school advocate Janie Segui Rodriguez, are taking a longer view. The board members are all running for four-year terms, which leaves them with a year left when state control ends.

“The board is very limited in their power, but at the same time, this is the board that’s going to receive the schools back in three years,” said Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Stop The Wait. “These are the people who are going to have the ability to implement and voice how we should do things going forward.”

The Providence Public School District, whose board has been appointed by the mayor since the late 1960s, has struggled academically for years and has lost more than 4,000 students over the last 20 years to now have less than 20,000 enrolled in its 37 schools.

A found that Providence lost almost 17 percent of its students since 2019 alone, some to charters, some to homeschooling, dropping out and population loss

The state took control of the district in 2019 after a Johns Hopkins University report found its academic performance and management faulty. Since then, the board has had little control. Infante-Green, not the board, hired and then extended the contract of superintendent Javier Montanez. 

With that control originally planned to end this year, voters in 2022 passed a city charter amendment calling for half of the board to be elected and half to be appointed by the mayor after this year’s election.

Though four current board members are running — Toni Akin in Region 2, Night Jean Muhingabo and Michael Nina in Region 3, and Ty’Relle Stephens in Region 4 — Mayor Brett Smiley isn’t endorsing anyone. He also won’t say if he would re-appoint any of the four if they lose or any of the five current members not running.

He must appoint a member from each region, however, after a nominating committee sends him recommendations.

Loyalty to the mayor or willingness to challenge him looms as a recurring issue for board members, both over charter schools and school funding.

Though Infante-Green placed some responsibility on the board for not governing well, she also delayed ending state control because the city does not give the school district enough money. State law requires Providence — or any city with schools under state control — to increase school funding each year by the same percentage as the state does.

Infante-Green has repeatedly warned the city that it is failing to meet that requirement, but school board members appointed by Smiley have criticized Infante-Green more than Smiley. The mayor even earlier this year, but failed.

The funding issue has flared up again, as superintendent Montanez Oct. 9 that he blamed on too little city support. The shortfall, he said, could force layoffs, and cuts of busing and winter and spring sports.

Candidates have not weighed in on those potential cuts yet. 

ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ asked every candidate who made contact information available whether the board or other officials were most to blame for Infante-Green not ending state control. All avoided blaming the board and though a few mentioned the budget issues, none assigned responsibility to anyone.

The ability of charter schools to open in the city is another hot button issue. The Rhode Island Department of Education said about 32,400 students statewide — more than 19,000 from Providence — applied for about 2,900 open charter school seats for this school year. To charter advocates, that’s a clear indication more charter schools are needed.

“Despite the fact that there’s growing demand…we probably have the largest wait list in the country…our politicians don’t respond to that,” Rodriguez said.

She added: “We need people who are going to be able to champion what parents and families want, not one system over the other.”

She was frustrated that Providence City Council blocked an agreement earlier this year between Smiley and Achievement First Rhode Island Inc. and Excel Academy Rhode Island to

Stop The Wait has endorsed four candidates — incumbent board member Michael Nina in Region 4, private school administrator Michelle Fontes in Region 2, Jenny Mercado in District 3 and DeNeil Jones in District 5.

The Providence Teachers Union has endorsed Corey Jones, a former city council candidate with several other endorsements from local officials in Region 1, Andrew Grover in Region 2, Heidi Silverio in Region 3 and incumbent board members Night Jean Muhingabo and Ty’Rell Stephens in Regions 4 and 5.

The union did not reply to a request for comment on the endorsements from ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ.

But Muhingabo and Stephens angered charter advocates and strengthened support of teachers when they questioned the lease of the Lauro school to charters.

“This resolution promotes the expansion of charter schools, diverting essential resources from our public schools and undermining our commitment to quality public education for all,” Muhingabo wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We need to protect our public schools!”

Overall, candidates have mostly called for better cooperation between the city, state and schools and for making sure the state can release the district from its control. A few have broken out of that mold by also offering other ideas, including:

• DeNeil Jones, in Region 5, wants to move students in low—performing schools to open seats in higher—performing ones to improve learning and save money. Though not stated, such a change could open schools for charters.
  
• Corey Jones in Region 1 wants state and other social services placed in schools to easily help students.
  
• David Talan in Region 4 wants to make it easier, as students are assigned schools based on openings, for students to attend schools close to them and to open a school in the Washington Park neighborhood.
  
• Mercado in Region 3 hopes to create an app that helps parents with school registration, dual language programs and access to local services.

The entire seven-member Chicago Board of Education will resign in the coming weeks after months of tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.

The resignations pave the way for Johnson to appoint new board members who could then carry out his wishes, including potentially firing Martinez. Johnson’s office said late Friday he will announce new appointments on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

Word of the resignations comes more than a week after the school board took no action to remove Martinez and about a month before the city’s first school board elections, which will create for the first time a hybrid board of 10 elected members and 11 appointed by the mayor. In three decades of mayoral control, no Chicago mayor has replaced all of their hand-picked members so quickly. Johnson last July.

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The upheaval is also happening amid with Johnson’s former employer the Chicago Teachers Union.

In a joint statement Friday, Johnson and the current appointed school board announced all current members would “transition from service” later this month.

“None of the members leaving the current Board planned to continue onto the hybrid Board, and none are running for election. With the unprecedented increase in Board membership, transitioning new members now will allow them time to orient and gain critical experience prior to welcoming additional elected and appointed members in 2025,” the statement read.

Johnson said this week that he never discusses personnel issues in public. But he , “I was elected to fight for the people of the city and whoever is in the way, get out of it.”

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Jen Johnson, deputy mayor for education, youth, and human services, said the mayor’s office “did not ask for resignations.”

“We knew that none of these board members were running [for election] or going to stay, and so we collaborated to ensure that there was a shepherding, a passing of the torch, as we approach this new board,” Johnson said, adding that all seven board members signed on to the statement the mayor’s office sent to the press.

Earlier this month, the mayor asked Martinez to step down — which he Nonetheless, Martinez and the has declined so far to fire him.

Board members have declined to comment publicly on Martinez’s clash with Brandon Johnson, but the board has in recent months backed Martinez in a couple of decisions that defied the mayor’s wishes. That includes adopting this year’s budget, as well as declining Johnson’s request for CPS to take out a short-term loan to cover some upcoming costs.

The board members stepping down are Board President Jianan Shi, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, who was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Mary Fahey Hughes, Tanya Woods, Mariela Estrada, Michelle Morales, and Rudy Lozano Jr.

Shi and Todd-Breland declined to comment further Friday. The other members have not returned emails or calls asking for comment on the resignation rumors this week.

The resignations will pave the way for Johnson to appoint new people to fill the vacancies on the board, who could then vote to approve a short-term loan and fire Martinez. The next school board meeting is Oct. 16, one of few remaining scheduled meetings before the is sworn in on Jan. 15, 2025.

“The board certainly will have the same authority, to evaluate the CEO against the objectives, and they will, you know, have to certainly tackle the incompleteness of the budget,” Deputy Mayor Johnson said.

Johnson did not directly answer when asked if it is the mayor’s hope that the new board will fire Martinez and approve a loan.

The mayor “will work with this new board just as he did with the current board to ensure we are protecting investments in our schools and that we are not cutting and using the truly chaotic solutions of past administrations, which harmed students in communities for generations,” she said.

In a statement, CPS CEO Martinez commended the board members “for their steadfast dedication to ensuring greater equity in our system, emphasizing our collective responsibility to improve the quality of education for those who are furthest from opportunity.”

If the mayor’s intention is to install a new board in order to fire Martinez, it would “be a group that has never evaluated [Martinez], has never worked with him,” according to a source familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak with the press. “They don’t know any of his work, they haven’t been part of any of these conversations.”

That source also noted that new board members typically have an orientation, which could be difficult to wedge in before the board’s first meeting.

In order to conduct business, the school board must have a quorum, which define as “a majority of the full membership of the Board of Education then serving.”

Deputy Mayor Johnson declined to specify the exact date of departure for each current board member, calling the latter a “personal decision” for each person.

A CPS central office staffer, who was not authorized to speak with the press, said the board “doesn’t want to undermine the mayor publicly” and feels board members were pressured to leave for not adhering to the mayor’s wishes. Another source familiar with the situation, also not authorized to speak with the media, questioned the official explanation.

“The mayor’s office will try to spin this as a transition,” the source said. “There is no credible explanation for why seven people would all leave a month or two ahead of time to facilitate a transition.”

The mood in the CPS central office was “like a funeral home” Friday as news of the resignations broke, according to the central office staffer, who said many people were sad to see the board departures.

“You could tell they really care about what’s going on at the district,” the staffer said, adding that they have worked with multiple CPS boards. “They have a sense of responsibility that I think I haven’t seen in the past.”

Multiple board members had been in serious discussions to resign as of at least Sunday, three sources told Chalkbeat.

As rumors of resignations floated earlier this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said before new members are elected. Friday morning, former Chicago school board member and once interim-CPS CEO Jesse Ruiz thanking current board members and urging them to “stay the course.”

“Despite all the pressures I know you all are under, I truly hope you continue to provide the steady leadership, governance and oversight that is critical for our public institutions to operate in the best interest of ALL its stakeholders,” Ruiz , the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The school board shakeup likely won’t have an immediate effect on schools, students, and educators, said Jeffery Henig, professor emeritus of politics and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who has studied mayoral control of school boards.

The resignations “will create a potential embarrassment” for the mayor, but also give Johnson a chance to “step in strongly” and make swift decisions that he thinks are necessary, Henig said.

The turmoil could, however, create long-term problems for the new board, which may be tasked with replacing Martinez, hiring a permanent replacement, or addressing the issue of borrowing to cover costs, he said.

“This dramatic gesture by the current board could set into motion enough turmoil and public positioning and open vying for leadership in one faction [of the school board] versus another, that it would make it harder for the new board to set an even course at the beginning,” Henig said.

Some candidates running for school board in the November election began issuing statements.

Kate Doyle, a candidate in District 2, said she was “disappointed to see leaders step away” at a critical time and that if elected, she would “work to ensure that decisions are made transparently and with the long-term success of our students in mind.”

Tensions between Martinez, Johnson building for months

In its year-plus tenure, the Johnson-appointed Board of Education has pursued and approved policies that line up ideologically with the mayor. That includes making a commitment to moving away from , and

Martinez and his administration worked in tandem with the board to develop and implement those changes. But the school board has had some with his performance, WBEZ . According to documents related to his annual evaluation, board members felt blindsided or unprepared in certain circumstances. Still, CPS told WBEZ that the board and Martinez “have worked collaboratively throughout our tenure to have open dialogue, fostering a respectful and professional relationship.”

“It’s true that the board has been frustrated with Pedro along the way,” said the source familiar with the situation. “But I do think that, in my knowledge of the situation, there has been this relentless pressure to fire Pedro for cause and do it quickly, and the board is not comfortable doing that.”

According to Martinez’s contract, the board would need to provide six months notice before firing him without cause. If the board fired him for just cause, such as criminal activity, he would have to leave immediately. Martinez could sue the district if he believes he was wrongfully terminated.

At the heart of the tension between Johnson, his school board, and Martinez is the district’s budget, which faced a half-billion-dollar deficit before CPS made cuts to close it. That deficit existed largely because that the district used to beef up staffing and invest in new programs, such as tutoring, expired this week.

The district’s $9.9 billion did not set aside dollars for the new teachers contract, which it is currently negotiating. It is not unusual for the school district to amend its budget once a contract deal has been reached. WBEZ recently reported that the district has outlined several options, of furloughs and layoffs.

Johnson which included the same amount of funding for schools but resulted in other cuts, including of support staff who CPS said will be reassigned or paid for the rest of the year.

The district also did not include a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching staff that . Johnson opposed that cost shift before he became mayor, but has now asked CPS to continue paying it as he works to close .

Johnson was expected to deliver his city budget proposal in a speech to City Council on Oct. 16, but earlier this week the mayor’s office announced Johnson would deliver his budget on Oct. 30, a week after the school board is scheduled to meet.

Over the summer, Johnson asked CPS to take out to help pay for the cost of the pension payment and the added expenses of contracts for the teachers and principals unions. Martinez and the board refused, in fear that taking on such a loan would saddle the district with high-interest rates and deepen its looming deficit for years to come.

The board’s departure so close to the election will likely turn up heat on school board candidates, said Henig, the Columbia professor who has studied mayoral control.

“If the candidates haven’t been forced to address this, there’s gonna be a lot of pressure on them to address this,” Henig said.

Union negotiations turn up heat on Martinez

The conflict is compounded by between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union, where Johnson worked as an organizer before his foray into politics. The union’s wide-ranging proposal package asks for 9% raises, more staffing, and more support for students, but the district has said its financial challenges remain – and less than 10% of the CTU proposals could create .

The union further turned up the heat on school district officials after saying it obtained a list of potential co-locations between 140 schools. The district, Martinez, and the Board of Education have said they have no plans to close schools. In letters to staff and families earlier this month, Martinez said the list was created as part of its analysis for the five-year strategic plan, and that it led district leaders and the board to affirm that they did not want to close schools.

The union’s House of Delegates recently passed a vote of no-confidence in Martinez.

Under state law, no school closures can happen in Chicago until Jan. 15, 2025. After the union’s claims over the past couple of weeks, the now-outgoing board passed a resolution Thursday, which Martinez prompted, that calls for .

This was originally published by . Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at .Ěý

Once a fast-growing experiment in education reform, LA Unified’s decades-old charter school sector has never seen challenges like those it faces today, with falling enrollment, tough new policies, and a hostile school board that has throttled charters’ access to public school space.

But the school board part of that equation could shift, if LAUSD teacher and charter-supporting rabble rouser Dan Chang can take LA Unified’s seat for school board District 3 in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, from teachers’ union-backed incumbent Scott Schmerelson.

Chang and Schmerelson share many of the same priorities for board policies, but Chang said he sought to address and in LA Unified, while Schmerelson said he’d seek to ensure traditional district-run public schools aren’t constrained by the presence of charters in public school buildings. 

With the teachers’ union struggling to defend its 4-3 majority on the board, Chang and ł§łŚłółžąđ°ůąđąô˛ő´Ç˛Ô’s race will decide whether the board tips in favor of charters and school reforms, versus more orthodox approaches to improving schools favored by the union.   

Chang, a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, whose first education job was at a charter school management organization, said in an interview that if he is elected he’d juice the city’s charter sector by moving to repeal the controversial policy established this year that limits where charters may operate.  

“LA Unified needs a new voice,” said Chang, who also previously led the boards of in the San Fernando Valley. “It’s critical to have someone with my experience on the board.”

The contest in District 3 is the most expensive school board race this year in LA, a city known for the, with more than $4 million raised or spent on behalf of the campaigns of Chang and Schmerelson.

Schmerelson, a former teacher and principal who’s held the seat at District 3 since 2014, is on the board, beat Chang in the March primaries, winning nearly 45% of the vote, compared to 29% for Chang.   

It wasn’t enough to prevent the race from going to a runoff at the general election next month, but Schmerelson, who is viewed as the favorite in the race, is sanguine. He has some reason to be confident, having broad support in his district and a track record of winning.

“I accept that I was elected by my constituents in board District 3, and I make sure that my schools get the attention that they need, everything that they need,” said Schmerelson. 

In 2020 Schmerelson in the general election, despite more than $6 million spent on Koziatek’s behalf by groups including those backing charter schools.

“The race is Scott’s to lose,” said David Tokofsky, former LAUSD board member and district gadfly.  

Tokofsky, who has worked on LAUSD board races for decades, estimated Chang’s campaign would have to outspend Schmerelson by four to one in order to capture the seat.

The show Chang’s campaign hasn’t quite reached the magic 4:1 ratio, yet. Chang’s campaign and its backers have raised or spent more than $3.6 million so far in the race, compared to nearly $1.4 million for ł§łŚłółžąđ°ůąđąô˛ő´Ç˛Ô’s campaign.

But with nearly a month left in the race, that could still change, Tokofsky said.

Los Angeles Unified is the largest district in the country controlled by a school board. LAUSD board members are relatively well-compensated compared to those of many other districts, with yearly salaries of $125,000. 

LAUSD school board members are also given a staff. Board members choose the district’s superintendent, help set district policy and control LA Unified’s $18.8 billion budget. 

LAUSD board elections in 2017 set a record for the most expensive school board races in U.S. history, with around $15 million spent that year on races that moved the board in the direction of pro-charter education reformers.

The outsize campaign spending in Los Angeles is unique, because the city has an organized opposition in the charter community to the teachers’ union, setting up arms races in campaign spending to control the board.

That’s compared to other cities, where unions often dominate board elections and their candidates often coast to victory. In places like New York and Chicago, the mayor appoints the school board, so unions concentrate their money on mayoral races.

With nearly 20% of the district’s enrollment, including LAUSD-affiliated charters, the charter sector in Los Angeles is the nation’s largest, with well-organized operations in advocacy and campaign finance.

The statewide California Charter School Association Advocates has endorsed Chang and helped fund efforts to get him elected, including television and radio advertisements targeted at LAUSD families who will vote in next month’s election.

CCASA Advocates Executive Director Gregory McGinity said his group is confident that Chang will fight to improve educational options and boost academic outcomes for all LAUSD students and not just those in charter schools.

“His commitment to expanding access to high-quality public schools—both traditional and charter public schools—aligns with our mission to empower families,” McGinity said. “We are confident in his ability to represent all voices and champion educational equity for all students.”

, which endorsed Schmerelson and helped fund efforts to keep his seat in this year’s race, didn’t respond to requests for comment on the race this year.

But in a statement on the union web site, UTLA lists the qualifications of Schmerelson, a former Spanish teacher, saying that he has ensured funding for schools in his district and pushed for changes in LA Unified to make schools cleaner and safer, reduce class sizes and boost students’ test scores.

“Schmerelson will make sure students feel safe and can meet their full potential,” states the UTLA’s endorsement.

UTLA has a track record of, and after charter advocates gained control of the board in.

Both Chang and Schmerelson said ensuring a post-pandemic academic recovery for all LAUSD students, increasing campus safety and addressing enrollment declines are among their top priorities for new policies in the coming years.

Where they differ is how to achieve those aims, with Schmerelson favoring magnet programs, high-impact tutoring and investments in traditional public schools as a means for academic improvement, compared to Chang’s emphasis on high-performing charters.

Both men favor the presence of police on LAUSD campuses as a means of improving school safety. The winner of the pivotal race will help shape the direction of the district as it contends with challenges including a shrinking budget and increasing school violence.

 â€œThe weird thing is, if you listen to the candidates, it’s very hard to tell them apart. They all say more-or-less the same things on the issues,” said Pedro Noguera, dean of University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

“So you can’t really distinguish the candidates based on what they’re saying or what they’re putting out in campaign materials,” he added. “You really do have to follow the money.”

Moms for Liberty, one of the fastest-growing and most recognized conservative parent advocacy groups in the nation, paid $21,357 to a company owned by the husband of one of its founding members, campaign finance records show. 

The group to Microtargeted Media, founded by Christian Ziegler, a current Sarasota County commissioner and vice chairman of the Florida GOP, in late August. 

Moms for Liberty was founded by three people, Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice and , Christian’s wife, who served as its director through February 2021. Bridget Ziegler joined the Sarasota County School Board in 2014 and this summer. 

 She was not named by the two other founders in numerous , an omission some was meant to distance the group from Florida’s GOP power structure. Descovich said Ziegler stepped away to pursue other interests. Moms for Liberty contributed $250 to her school board campaign in mid-July, records show. 

Bridget Ziegler could not be reached for comment. Her husband, who responded to ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ through Twitter Thursday evening, would not discuss his company’s work for Moms for Liberty.

“I don’t share information about my clients as I do not speak for them,” Christian Ziegler wrote. “You can contact Tina directly for any additional insight.”

Descovich said they hired Microtargeted Media — whose motto is “we do digital & go after people on their phones” — based on its track record.

“I chose to work with Mr. Ziegler’s company because we required digital media services and they are the best at what they do,” she wrote. 

She also acknowledged the group’s support for his wife’s run for office. 

“The Florida Political Committee supported candidates that the Moms for Liberty chapters endorsed,” she said. “The Sarasota chapter voted to endorse Mrs. Ziegler.”

, which specializes in targeted text messaging and digital advertising, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars from right-wing political campaigns. Its recent clients also include Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, chairman of the Florida GOP and an ardent Trump supporter. His campaign paid the company . 

Florida Conservatives United, a PAC, has paid Microtargeted Media . 

The revelation that Moms for Liberty used a sizable chunk of its political contributions to benefit the company of its co-founder’s husband provides at least some insight into how the conservative juggernaut used what appears to be its modest campaign finances. 

The Federal Elections Commissions lists three committees associated with the group, which claims 240 chapters in 42 states: Moms for Liberty PAC, Moms for Liberty Inc. Political Victory Fund and Moms for Liberty Action. All three reported zero dollars in contributions or expenditures with the exception of a single to Moms for Liberty PAC on Aug. 29 from Ohio resident Matthew Palumbo, whose long political career includes working for former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Descovich, the group’s executive director, told ĂŰĚŇÓ°ĘÓ it has not raised or spent any money from its national PACs, though it hopes to use them in the future to support school board candidates around the country. She said Moms for Liberty has one state-level political committee, Moms for Liberty Florida.

Almost all of the money donated to Moms for Liberty Florida came from a $50,000 donation from Publix heiress Julie Fancelli in late June and nearly half of it went to Microtargeted Media. The contribution from Fancelli, of the Jan. 6 rally that led to the attack on the Capitol, accounted for all but $837 of the cash raised by Moms for Liberty Florida. Almost all the rest of the committee’s funds went in $250 donations to dozens of politically aligned Florida school board candidates.

Descovich said to date, Moms for Liberty has endorsed 65 candidates in Florida with 43 either declared a winner or advancing to a runoff; 72 candidates statewide in New York, with 40 victorious; three school board candidates in Kenosha, Wisconsin, two of whom won; two candidates in Bedford County, Virginia, both of them successful and seven endorsed in North Carolina, with five winning seats. Most school board elections will be Nov. 8, she said, and the group is working to get endorsement tallies from its chapters. 

Moms for Liberty’s 2021 federal tax filing shows the 501(c)4 nonprofit with $370,029 in total revenue and $163,647 in expenses, with most of that money — $102,486 — going to conferences, conventions and meetings. It lists Descovich as spending an average of 40 hours a week working for the organization and receiving $5,000 in compensation; program development director Marie Rogerson also working on average 40 hours a week and receiving $1,800 while Justice, whose title is director, spent 40 hours a week but received no compensation. Ziegler, the former director, spent an average of one hour a week, according to the filing, and received zero compensation. Descovich said Moms for Liberty has 10 full- and two part-time staffers.

Moms for Liberty Foundation, the group’s 501(c)3 charitable arm which is prohibited from engaging in political activities, claimed gross receipts of less than $50,000 in 2021 and filed an abbreviated 990 form with the Internal Revenue Service that includes no details about its funders, expenditures or top officers’ salaries.

The group, which has ,  has been successful in curbing classroom discussion of race, sex and gender — while also from school curriculum and libraries, though some schools have brought such texts back. 

Moms for Liberty’s leaders have said in the past they’ve raised most of their money through T-shirt sales and have grown through free publicity. celebrates its leaders — they’ve appeared on Steve Bannon’s talk show — while mainstream press have also kept them in the spotlight, if at times offering less flattering coverage of them deriding school board members.

Despite their high-wattage name recognition, some and staying power. Campbell F. Scribner, assistant professor of education at the University of Maryland at College Park, said they could soon flounder as members might not have the time or capacity to devote themselves to activism in the long term. 

Campbell called Moms for Liberty and another highly watched group, The 1776 Project Political Action Committee, which has raised $3 million to advocate for conservative school board candidates nationally this year, “a weird combination of single-issue organizing,” in this case around the topic of education, “and a fairly diffuse set of goals — either focused on a hot-topic issue that will fade quickly, like CRT [critical race theory] — or on goals that are too amorphous to actually be accomplished, like ‘patriotism.’’’ 

Scribner doesn’t consider either to be solely “grassroots.” Both have a top-down and bottom-up structure, he said. 

“It would be dangerous to put them in one camp or another,” he said. “To ignore their grassroots element is to ignore their appeal and power. But they do need to align with public sentiment and when they don’t, their support withers pretty quickly.”