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Across California, parents鈥� pandemic-era frustrations over everything from COVID school closures and safety protocols to the power of teachers鈥� unions are driving them to run for school boards.

Some are motivated by national controversies, such as critical race theory and LGBTQ+ education. Others want to make sure the record amount of money pouring into California schools benefits students directly. According to the California School Boards Association, about half of the approximately 5,000 school board seats in the state are up for election this year, but there鈥檚 no official count of how many parents are running for these offices that have drawn so much ire during the pandemic.

鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that we鈥檙e really investing in our public schools,鈥� said Taylor Kayatta, a parent and school board candidate in Sacramento. 鈥淲hatever money we鈥檙e making this year should be spent on this year鈥檚 students. I don鈥檛 like the idea of putting money away just to put it away.鈥�

Kayatta said he wants to streamline the clunky bureaucracy at Sacramento City Unified, which he and his family experienced first-hand. As he goes door-to-door to speak to voters, he starts the conversation with the story of his son and the struggle to get him a speech therapist through the district.

鈥淭here was a year or two where every day I鈥檇 wake up and say, 鈥業s this the day when we put our house on the market and move to Folsom?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淏ecause if I couldn鈥檛 get my son the services he needed, there was only so much I could push.鈥�

The 37-year-old attorney is seeking public office for the first time. Kayatta鈥檚 campaign for school board is a throwback to pre-pandemic times: more transparency, better communication and fiscal responsibility.

The local teachers union at Sacramento City Unified endorsed him, but Kayatta knows the endorsement might be a liability. Antagonism towards teachers unions fueled much of the parent activism during the pandemic.

鈥淧eople might say that I鈥檓 a lackey,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檝e told the union that I鈥檓 not going to silence myself.鈥�

In other parts of the state, parents who believed their personal liberties were violated by mask and vaccine mandates and sex education curricula found allies among school choice advocates and longtime opponents of teachers unions. The has been tapping into this 鈥減arental rights鈥� platform to support candidates it believes are aligned with its agenda.

Still, some school boards are struggling to find viable candidates, in some cases leaving candidates some consider extremists, like in Morgan Hill, to run unopposed. In Jeffrey Perrine, who last year told the that he was a member of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys, is running for the board of the San Juan Unified School District.

Kayatta said he鈥檚 more focused on making sure his district spends its money on teachers, avoids future labor disputes and attracts more families to its schools. He said Sacramento City Unified has been insulated from the national controversies that have plagued other districts during the pandemic.

鈥淚n urban districts, those aren鈥檛 huge issues,鈥� Kayatta said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 something of a blue bubble maybe.鈥� 

Rahul Lal

/

CalMatters

But even in San Diego, school board candidates struggled to see eye-to-eye with voters who seemed to only want to talk about sex education and critical race theory, an academic framework that examines how race is a construct of society and its laws.

鈥淚 told them parents always had control, that they could always opt out and that there were no critical race theory-based classes,鈥� said Lily Higman, who ran in the June primary for San Diego Unified鈥檚 school board and lost. 鈥淏ut they were pushing these issues so hard.鈥�

Higman鈥檚 platform included hiring more counselors and addressing chronic absenteeism. But voters鈥� obsession with national education controversies consumed the conversation, she said.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 let them shape my platform, and that was probably to my detriment,鈥� Higman said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 such a big group of kids that have fallen behind, and while voters agree with that, they can鈥檛 get off critical race theory and sex ed.鈥�

Vladimir Kogan, a political science professor at The Ohio State University who has written about local politics in California, said he鈥檚 skeptical that the most vocal voters are representative of a community. He said a large body of research shows that candidates often misperceive public opinion.

鈥淭hat is always the danger of democracy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always hard to know what your constituents want because it鈥檚 so expensive to poll.鈥� 

鈥楾he year of the parent鈥�

In Orange County, opposition to COVID safety protocols converged with advocacy for charter schools. The Orange County Board of Education drew public attention during the pandemic Gov. Gavin Newsom for mandating masks on campuses.

鈥淭hey were saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want my kids vaccinated and I don鈥檛 want my kids masked,鈥欌�� said former board president Mari Barke. 鈥淚 think this is going to be the year of the parent.鈥�

Barke was mentioned in a in March that pointed out that her husband, Jeff Barke, a physician who , had founded a charter school that uses curriculum provided by a Christian college. Barke said she recused herself when the county board voted to approve the charter school. But her opponents remain critical.

In June, Barke was up for re-election, a race that was characterized as a referendum on her leadership. Barke defeated Martha Fluor, a former board member at Newport-Mesa Unified. Fluor ran with the teachers union endorsement and lost with 32% of the vote to Barke鈥檚 59%. Barke said she wanted to run to protect the rights of 鈥渕ama bears and papa bears.鈥�

鈥淚 think just naturally, if you are uncomfortable with the mandates at your local district, then you might want more options, whether that鈥檚 to attend a virtual school or a charter school in the area,鈥� Barke said. 鈥淲hen people feel their parental rights are being diminished to a degree, I think they want more options.鈥�

Fluor, a former Republican who left the party after the Jan. 6 insurrection, said she ran to defeat what she called an extremist coalition subjecting schools to its political agenda. Fluor said the county board would often pray before meetings and opposed masks and vaccines. She said she and other like-minded candidates would have won if the election had been held in November, when more people are likely to vote.

鈥淭his race was really about political, ultra-conservative ideology versus what鈥檚 in the best interest of kids,鈥� Fluor said. 鈥淭he low voter turnout was our downfall.鈥�

Political scientists have long suspected that the parents who show up at board meetings don鈥檛 necessarily represent the majority of their communities.

鈥淚t鈥檚 probably the case that the most vocal people on both sides are really the vocal minority, and they鈥檙e not speaking for most parents,鈥� said Kogan, the political science professor. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 especially going to be true in urban districts serving the most disadvantaged students.鈥�

One of the most vocal organizations has been , which started as a group of parents opposing mask mandates at school districts in Southern California. Sharon McKeeman, founder of the group, is now running for the Carlsbad Unified school board in northern San Diego County. In 2021, Let Them Breathe , the second-largest district in the state, over its vaccine mandate.

McKeeman said she鈥檚 seeking office after witnessing teachers unions using students as a 鈥渂argaining chip鈥� and delaying the reopening of schools after they were shut down in the early days of the pandemic. She said she鈥檒l refuse to reinstate any mask mandates, even if teachers unions push for them.

鈥淲e will provide them with the resources so they can focus on teaching,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just not going to bow to union interests.鈥�

McKeeman said most teachers wanted to come back to in-person instruction sooner. She said she would be open to salary increases for teachers, considering how much money is going to public school districts. She wants to hire more art teachers in particular and reduce class sizes to raise math and reading test scores.

But she鈥檚 also calling for more parental oversight of what鈥檚 being taught in classrooms, especially when it comes to sex education. Parents who became politically active by opposing vaccine and mask mandates also seem to oppose lessons that 鈥渄ivide the family unit,鈥� McKeeman said.

鈥淧arents saw the government overreach and force their children into masks,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose parents are looking into what else is going on in their children鈥檚 school and curriculum.鈥�

In Sacramento, Kayatta said parents support masking and vaccines. He said districts need to remain vigilant and reinstate masking policies if the number of cases and hospitalizations rises again.

鈥淎 lot of school districts in the country are like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 over now,鈥欌�� Kayatta said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e quite there yet. I think we need to keep an eye on it.鈥� 

When it comes to local school governance, parent activists want in how districts are handling the billions of dollars in they are receiving.

鈥淏efore COVID, if you asked parents to name a member of their school board, I guarantee most would have come up with nothing,鈥� said Megan Bacigalupi, the founder of CA Parent Power, a parent advocacy group established during the pandemic.

Bacigalupi said parents are most concerned about the quality of education and the mental health of students. 鈥淩isk of COVID infection is dead last,鈥� she said.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean to keep talking about COVID, but there鈥檚 certainly money being spent on it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲here parents want the money to be allocated is very different.鈥�

Kayatta said he disagrees with large parts of the growing parent coalition, but he believes the new interest in politics among parents has made it easier to campaign.

鈥淚 think parents are paying a lot more attention now on either side,鈥� Kayatta said. 鈥淎 lot of that came from having your kids at home. That鈥檚 not going away any time soon.鈥�

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