Commentary by Dawn Collier
Today, we take the time as individuals and as a nation to recognize and thank the brave American veterans who have fought to defend our nation and freedom throughout the world. It’s because of their courage and sacrifices that Americans have freedom inscribed in our hearts.
In 1957, President John F. Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage, his book that told the stories of eight U.S. senators — from John Quincy Adams to Robert A. Taft — who, during their time, took a stand for a higher cause despite the risk to their reputations and political futures.
As Americans, we hold these two ideals sacred: that government of the people, by the people is for the people, and that, when government corruption is revealed, the First Amendment protects every citizen’s right to stand up and speak out against it. The fight over our public schools has put both of these fundamental principles to the test.
Over the last two years, every American has seen what we here at CPC have been exposing all along: the teachers unions care only about money and political power — not students, not parents, and not teachers. Americans have awakened to the reality that teachers unions — in California and on the national stage — control education policy at every level of government.
At a time of national crisis during the pandemic, the corrupt teachers unions saw only an opportunity. They kept public schools closed and ran a massive misinformation campaign to leverage their political power and make demands for more money and favors instead of doing what was best for kids.
Meanwhile, parents became increasingly aware of the politicized propaganda unions were pumping into government-run schools. Unions weren’t just pushing Critical Race Theory and gender-bending curriculum in classrooms, they were telling teachers and school administrators how to hide it from parents.
But the unions underestimated parents.
Frustrated and outraged parents went to their local school board meetings — most for the first time — to demand answers from their elected representatives. But union-backed school board members ignored and dismissed parent concerns. The National School Boards Association went so far as to label parents “domestic terrorists” and, along with it’s counterpart the California School Boards Association, asked that law enforcement be used to intimidate and silence parents who dared to speak out at school board meetings.
Parents refused to back down. They formed parent groups like Reopen California Schools and Let Them Breathe, and many others, and joined CPC’s Parent Union, to bring parents together to stand up against unions and school bureaucrats. They took their school boards to court. And, ultimately, hundreds of parents ran for their local school boards.
These school board races have not been easy. Teachers unions went after parents with all they have. Unions spied on parent groups, attacked parent candidates, and poured money into local races to maintain union control of school boards.
While Californians are still waiting for the results of many of these races across the state, we know this: These brave parents deserve our gratitude. They are an example of ordinary people doing something extraordinary: They put their personal lives and reputations on the line to do the right thing — to fight for our children’s future.
“Running for office is basically me bringing my worst fear to life,” Tweeted Julie Hamill, parent school board candidate (Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified) on Election Day. “I put myself on display to be judged by my entire community (and beyond) ….”
“No matter the outcome …, I hope I made you all proud, and I hope I was able to spark critical conversations about the changes we need to make to improve our kids’ quality of life and education in California.”
Julie, an attorney and mom of three, now has more than 26,000 followers on Twitter. She’s become a leading voice in California’s education reform movement and speaks on behalf of not just the parents in her district, but all Californians fed up with the union-controlled public education system where two out three students can’t meet state math standards.
We’re proud that many of these first-time candidates participated in California Policy Center’s online Candidate Training launched earlier this year along with our in-person trainings in counties across the state. Dozens of these candidates and parent group leaders also joined us for CPC’s first Parent Union Legislative Summit in June.
In the coming weeks, CPC will release CLEO’s new virtual Leadership Academy training for newly-elected school board members. In February, we’re hosting our next Sacramento summit to bring parents’ rights and education reform leaders together and meet with new legislators.
Next week, we’ll take a closer look at the numbers in these school board elections and share our own profiles of many of these courageous candidates.
And speaking of hard-fought battles …
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Lance Christensen, Vice President of Education Policy & Government Affairs, California Policy Center
Over this past year, our colleague, Lance Christensen, California Policy Center’s Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs, ran an exceptional campaign for State Superintendent of Public Instruction against union-owned incumbent Tony Thurmond. At CPC, as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, we can’t endorse candidates, but we can give our perspective on the character of candidates when the votes are in.
Like the school board candidates discussed above, Lance ran for office because he cares about California’s children and the future of our state. He knows California’s union-run schools are failing and that if we don’t do something to stop the bleeding, a generation of children will have their futures derailed.
Lance, a married father of five, made tremendous sacrifices during his campaign: endless travel, long work days, and non-stop teachers union attacks that aren’t for the faint of heart. But Lance ran because he — and his family — understood what’s at stake.
Throughout the campaign, Lance traveled to counties across California, making his case to parents, voters and anyone who would listen. Along the way he educated reporters, newspaper editorial boards and education leaders on what California can do to save our schools.
Lance’s feckless opponent, Tony Thurmond, is a teachers union stooge who caved to union demands to keep schools shuttered during the pandemic, and over his four years in office, has overseen a school system that has fallen to its lowest enrollment rates in decades, record-breaking chronic absenteeism, and student tests scores that have dropped precipitously. Yet the usual suspects in the mainstream media endorsed Thurmond, who emerged victorious after California’s unions bankrolled his campaign.
And yet on Election Day, at the end of a grueling campaign, Lance did something incredible. He used his platform to tell the story of the people that he met along the way, on all sides of the political aisle, in a deeply thoughtful and compelling tribute to the people of California. We want to share it with you because, like Lance, it is really something special.
Thurmond may have been reinstalled in office by the unions, but Lance has inspired millions of Californians to stand up and be heard in the fight for meaningful education reform.
What follows is the Tweet thread (unrolled) from Lance on Election Day.
I did something that a lot of people probably think is stupid. I added my Google number to the CA voter guide that went out to 22 million voters. I’ve taken almost every one of the hundreds of calls made to me in the last few weeks. I learned a few things along the way.
Most people just want to be heard. I was a capitol staffer for 17 years & I had a similar experience when taking calls from constituents & (often) angry voters. Aside from the few inconsolable or irrational callers, most of the conversations are thoughtful & amicable.
I’ve had some people ask some very interesting questions. Others call in desperation because of an adverse situation with their kids. One person is looking for a good divorce lawyer & figured I had the inside track (I do work in politics, but am happily married).
Others question my platform. Most don’t take the time to look closely at my website, peruse my social media, listen to the scores of interviews I’ve given in the last 8 months or read the thousands of words I’ve written on my Medium blog. So I walk them thru their questions.
Others just want to get something off of their chest & are happy when someone on the ballot gives a listening ear. These comments are often made out of exasperation & I may agree with them but I try hard to bite my tongue. So far, so good.
Then there are the contrarians & trolls. They’re not looking for answers; they want conflict. I’ve had enough extemporaneous speaking experience over the last 30 years of my life to avoid the traps, but it is fun to answer their questions & ask if Thurmond took their call.
The line usually goes silent at that time. They know the other guy doesn’t pick up the phone, answer his email, respond to social media & refused to have a single public debate. While they try & defend him, they’ve got nothing. Zero academic outcomes to brag about.
This is where the genuinely perplexing calls come in. Those calls from people who probably share very little (if any) of my ideology. After a few minutes of intellectually honest conversation resulting in some amount of agreement, they are still stuck on some weird issue and … still can’t pull the lever for me. I get that there may be other issues that are hardlines for them, but if that were the case, why call me in the first place? If I’m answering their call at their whim, what more does it take to get their support?
Again, these are not complaints, just observations. In the end, if we had a more engaged electorate & a better federalist/localist system where the people are heard & engaged, our republic could be in a lot better shape. Alas, we don’t & thus the bi-annual fire drill.
So, vote for me or not, but know that I left it all on the field & I’ll be working until the clock hits 8pm to get people to the polls so they can vote for me, vote for parents. It’s been my honor to be the man in the arena, even if my Google number is out to the world.
Hear, hear, our friend.
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