Local School Board Races Will Be a Contest for the Freedom to Learn

This fall, a fight for the soul of education is quietly brewing in school board races all across the state. Instead of focusing on the education staffing crises in our schools and the critical mental health and socio-economic needs of our students, some groups are waging a war on students and educators. 

A well-funded cluster of national groups have landed in Minnesota to whitewash our racial history and agitate the community against our LGBTQ+ students. They are showing up at school board meetings with damaging and hurtful messages about books, bathrooms and teachers using racist and homophobic rhetoric. They attack public educators and the unions that represent them. These types of dialogues directly hurt individuals and drive us backwards in the important work we are doing to address racial and economic justice in our communities.

And now, these astroturf groups have begun to endorse candidates, train them how to run and are funding their campaigns. They are active all over the state, but they are particularly focused in battleground state legislative districts. What we are seeing this fall is a precursor to what we will see next year when the Minnesota House will be on the ballot. 

But fortunately, in Minnesota, we have all of us. Our labor movement is steeped in a long history of endorsing candidates, training them how to run and providing volunteers to fuel their campaigns. And we’ve done just that this year. In the coming weeks, you will be seeing endorsements in these critical school board races for candidates who support a safe and welcoming school and community environment. All students deserve the freedom to learn and all educators deserve the freedom to provide their critical services and talents in the classroom. 

We are endorsing candidates who will address the severe staffing crisis of teachers and other caring adults in our schools. Our endorsed candidates will prioritize students’ needs in the classroom and in their whole lives so students can learn the skills to pursue their dreams. Curriculum and classroom content should be age-appropriate, and we trust our great educators to define what is appropriate. We are endorsing candidates who are going to roll up their sleeves and get to work in big ways during this critical moment in time. 

But these great MRLF-endorsed candidates cannot do it on their own. We all need to stand shoulder to shoulder and get the message out about the freedom to learn all across our communities. Don’t be afraid to have this conversation with your neighbors and co-workers. 

A special thank you to Chris Williams at Education Minnesota for providing the research content that made this column possible.