California School Boards Association Leaves National Org over Insufficiently Radical Activism
The California chapter of the National School Boards Association will withdraw from the headquarters over what it deemed insufficiently radical activism on the state’s legislative priorities and has pledged to lobby in Washington, D.C., directly to advance its agenda.
Unlike the majority of the 22 state groups that have severed ties with the NSBA over its rogue request to the Biden administration for federal intervention into local school board–parent disputes in September, California’s branch actually supported the initiative to investigate parent “threats” against school administrators. The NSBA letter, which characterized parents who showed up at school-board meetings to protest progressive curricula and Covid-19 policies as potential domestic terrorists, spurred an order from the U.S. Department of Justice directing federal law enforcement to probe and possibly prosecute such threats. Including the 22 groups, 30 state chapters have downgraded their relationship with the NSBA, claiming that the leadership did not consult or inform them before sending the letter.
On the same day that the NSBA sent its letter to U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland, CSBA CEO Vernon M. Billy appealed to California governor Gavin Newsom and attorney general Rob Bonta in a similar letter obtained by Parents Defending Education, the California Policy Center reported.
Billy asked the governor and attorney general “to convince, command, or otherwise urge local law enforcement to uphold public health and safety orders, help maintain order at local school board meetings when requested, and enforce the law as they are sworn to do.”
“I’ve watched in horror as school board members have been accosted, verbally abused, physically assaulted, and subjected to death threats against themselves and their family members,” Billy wrote. “The list of dangerous and outrageous conduct committed against school trustees during their board meetings is far too long to list here, but I will try to provide a representative sample.”
In a statement announcing it would not be renewing its NSBA membership, the CSBA cited “CSBA’s inequitable representation in NSBA’s governance structure and the organization’s lack of support for policy issues of importance to California.”
“Recognizing that this day might come, CSBA has been steadily increasing its presence in D.C. to compensate for the growing ineffectiveness of NSBA and allow for more robust and more direct advocacy on federal matters. We have developed a strong partnership with the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) that serves as a launchpad for new policy and advocacy activities at the federal level,” CSBA president Dr. Susan Heredia wrote.
The CSBA board decided at its March 26 meeting to not renew its membership, which will end June 30.
