Parental rights group scores victories but falls short in a number of metro school board races v. union-endorsed candidates

Alex Derosier, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

Metro school board candidates backed by a parental rights group clinched some victories in Tuesday’s elections, but most faltered in the face of a large slate of union-supported candidates in competitive suburban races.

About a quarter of the 44 candidates backed by Minnesota Parents Alliance prevailed, and they won a 5-2 majority on the Hastings School Board. They also won two seats in highly competitive races for the Anoka-Hennepin School Board, meaning three of seven members of that body are now supported by the group.

The MPA also had members elected in South Washington County, Minnetonka, Spring Lake Park, Hopkins, and Wayzata.

But candidates backed by the state teachers’ union, Education Minnesota, won the vast majority of their races Tuesday night. Of the 53 union-endorsed candidates, 85% won the seats they competed for, according to union president Denise Specht.

“I think what it says really is Minnesota voters want public schools where children have the freedom to read age appropriate books that reflect the lives of all kinds of families, … schools where they have the freedom to learn an honest full history of America, and the freedom to feel safe and welcome as their authentic self,” Specht said.

Post pandemic races

Normally sleepy school board races have become politically charged in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many politically conservative parents have objected to the way subjects like race, history, gender and sexuality are taught in public schools, and have pushed to elect school board members whose values align with theirs.

There has also been a marked decline in school performance which coincided with online learning and school closures during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cristine Trooien, of Mound, launched MPA in 2022 after conservative candidates failed to win in the 2021 Westonka school board election. At the time she told the Pioneer Press that schools had become “obsessed” with equity initiatives instead of improving academic performance.

Minnesota school board races are nonpartisan, and Trooien does not describe her group as conservative, but a number of the candidates it backs fall on the conservative side of the political spectrum.

Unions have pushed back against the wave of conservative candidates and liberal-aligned groups have cropped up in response, such as the School Board Integrity Project. Most of the competitive races were in the Twin Cities suburbs.

Union-endorsed candidates

Union-endorsed candidates swept all seats in six competitive suburban school board races, including Bloomington, Fridley, Mounds View, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and Roseville. Union candidates also swept the Minnetonka School Board election, though one of the union-endorsed candidates also had the endorsement of the MPA.

In a crowded 11-candidate race for four seats on the Mounds View school board, four endorsed by the conservative MPA failed to oust any of the sitting school board members. All three incumbents were endorsed by the teachers union and the School Board Integrity Project. Newly-elected Alissa Daire Nelson, who won an open seat, also had endorsements.

Mounds View has been one of the three races MPA said it used the most resources.

In Roseville, all incumbents held on to their seats in the face of challenges from three MPA-endorsed candidates. One of the union backed incumbents in that race specifically mentioned LGBT issues in his candidate questionnaire with the Pioneer Press, while the MPA backed candidates all focused on criticizing declining academic achievement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And candidates backed by the Dakota County Chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group focused on school board elections, failed to win seats in the Rosemount-Apple Valley Eagan School Board election. MPA also had backed candidates in that race.

Both groups said they were significantly outspent by union candidates.

Despite the majority of its endorsed candidates losing on Tuesday, Trooien said the handful of victories is a sign the group is growing, and she said she looks forward to next year’s races. There are about 80 MPA backed school board members in Minnesota, she said.

“It does take more than one election cycle to generate some change,” Trooien said. “Little by little, we really hope to grow that group of current serving school board members that are aligned with our mission.”

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