Steve Hinnefeld reports that the voters of Indiana did not buy the anti-CRT baloney in important school board races. Indiana is a solid red state where Republicans swept every statewide race. But parents mostly like their school boards.
He begins:
School board elections are the quintessential local elections. In most states, including Indiana, they are nonpartisan. Voters make their choices based on the pros and cons of candidates, not parties. Issues matter, but candidates with strong networks of friends and supporters are likely to do well.
That makes it hard to draw conclusions from the school board elections that took place across the state last week. But it appears that conservative culture warriors didn’t do as well as they had hoped.
In some school districts, candidates vowed to take on “critical race theory” and “wokeness” in the schools. Those folks won and now have a majorityin Hamilton Southeastern, an affluent suburban district north of Indianapolis where white parents protested the hiring of the district’s first Black superintendent last year. In the New Albany-Floyd County district, two candidates backed by Liberty Defense, a PAC that supports Republicans, were among four winners.
But in Carmel and Noblesville, suburban districts that are demographically and politically similar to Hamilton Southeastern, they gained a seat but remained a minority. In Zionsville and Avon, also Indy suburbs, supporters of teachers and administrators won all contested seats. Zionsville conservatives who wanted to rewrite curriculum, and one who made national news when he said “all Nazis weren’t bad,” fell short. In Northwest Allen Schools, a suburban Fort Wayne district, incumbents held off a challenge by conservatives, including one endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind.
One disturbing result was in Lafayette, where a winning candidate said he looked forward to scouring classrooms for “gay and lesbian flags, that sort of thing.” But he’s one board member. He can make an ass of himself, but he can’t dictate policy, much less curriculum.
Open the link and keep reading.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Rep. Jim Banks, mentioned in the post, is a graduate of Grace College and Seminary, a conservative school that, like most conservative schools, has never had a female president. Banks opposes federal funding for Planned Parenthood and he opposes same-sex marriage. At Wikipedia, readers can learn what Liz Cheney thinks about Banks’ honesty or lack thereof.
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The Republican majority in the US House is expected to select leaders soon. Those who may fill the top 4 positions include Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, Jim Banks and Elise Stefanik. McCarthy spoke in 2018 at the opening of the new Religious Liberty Division at the Department of Health and Human Services (a summary of the speech is available on the internet).
To decide how much of a theocracy the US has become, readers can review how each of the preceding 4 has advanced right wing religion. Two are evangelical and 2 are conservative Catholic.
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Linda,
You forgot to mention that Jim Jordan—the coatless one—will be chair of the Judiciary Committee. Prepare for the Hunter Biden hearings. Endless hearings.
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yes, because Republicans have a preference for creating grievance, not democratic governance.
Pence’s theocracy was on display this morning on NBC’s Meet the Press. He’s a fool and the indoctrination of his conservative Christianity addles his brain.
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As to the last paragraph in the post: don’t be too sure that “one board member…can’t dictate policy, much less curriculum.” He can & that’s exactly what happened on one of our local school boards. As in the film “12 Angry Men,” it can be seen that ONE person can turn it around.
Here, the guy persuaded the board to vote for a resolution to arm their district’s educators. Abolishment of mask-wearing in their 2 schools. & some other items, such as questioning the curriculum. As it’s been seen all over the U.S., those who have served as school board members are often using their positions as a platform to run for higher office: this guy recently ran for state representative…he lost, thank G-d. Our conservative newspaper endorsed his opponent, the incumbent –a special ed. teacher!– as to the issue of supporting an assault weapons ban (of course, the guy who wants to arm school personnel is opposed to an AWB!). That endorsement really helped & was good to read.
Anyway, as aforementioned, WATCH your school board/attend meetings. Be vigilant.
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Good advice in your final sentence.
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