CITIES: School Board Elections – Are They Really Important?
By Scott Jones
If nothing is more important than the education of our children, you would think that voter turnout would be high for school board elections. Sadly, it is not. For example, from 2013 through 2018, voter turnout in Plano ISD ranged from 6% to 8%.[i] This low turnout is both a threat and an opportunity.
The threat is that small but committed special interest groups can determine the outcome of school board elections and elect board members that advance the groups’ agendas over the best interests of parents, students, and the civil society.
The opportunity is that a small but committed group of believers could determine the outcome of school board elections and elect board members that will protect and defend the Biblical worldview, morality, and decency and will return the schools to traditional basic education. This will provide a better outcome for the students and for the civil society.
Since voter turnout is low, and Christians do not typically turn out for school board elections, public schools are increasingly promoting secular worldviews, while diminishing the Christian worldview. They promote lifestyles that clearly violate scriptural teaching. This is true in K-12 as well as in colleges and universities.
Why Don’t Christians Vote in School Board Elections?
There are many reasons that Christians fail to show up for school board elections. One common reason is “bandwidth”.[ii] We are all busy and school board elections are on a different cycle from state and national elections. We can speculate about other reasons:
“My children attend a Christian School”
“My children are home schooled”
“My children are grown”
All of these excuses ignore the larger reality that the sole reason we have public schools is provide a sufficient education to the public, so that each individual can be a contributing member of the “civil society” – with sufficient knowledge of subjects like history, civics, government, and economics to make sound decisions that will assure the continuation of our constitutional republic. Furthermore, we are all taxpayers and in Texas school boards are the largest consumer of our property taxes. Therefore, we have both a civil and financial reason to be engaged in school board elections.
What the Bible Says About Parental Responsibility
The Bible teaches us that education of children, especially in moral and religious matters, is the responsibility of parents. The Lord commanded Israel to teach His laws to their children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7):
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
This is echoed by the Psalmist, Asaph (Psalm 78:5):
For He established a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children,
Paul writes of parental responsibility in Ephesians 6:4:
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
In our nation today, we have delegated the responsibility for the instruction of children to the schools. There are practical reasons for this: efficiency (freeing up parents to work) and relying on the “experts” in various fields, to name two. Nevertheless, the responsibility for teaching children the ways of the Lord rests solely with parents. Parents, therefore, have a solemn responsibility to ensure that those setting education policy are acting in concert with Biblical principles.
The Danger
If we fail to engage in school board elections, then public school policy will be determined by people who may not share our values and beliefs. We may find the schools promoting values that are in stark opposition to Biblical principles and ideologies that oppose the founding principles of our republic. We already see schools promoting Marxism under the banner of “Action Civics” and “Critical Race Theory”.[iii] Schools have also become havens for promoting activity that is clearly immoral according to scripture and to a constitutional republic:
Sexual promiscuity[iv]
Killing of babies (through abortion) – without parental consent[v]
Homosexual lifestyles[vi]
Transgender lifestyles[vii]
Promoting the doctrines of other religions over Christianity (e.g. Islam)[viii]
Stocking school libraries with inappropriate sexual content[ix] [x] [xi]
Promoting revisionist history (e.g. the 1619 project)[xii] [xiii]
In one DFW school district, the administration is actively working to prevent parents from discovering the contents of the school library and of the curricula. The superintendent shames parents for even questioning the schools’ policies and curricula. The school board has thus far refused parents’ requests for action, preferring to delegate its powers to the superintendent.[xiv]
Clearly, those that hold to a secular worldview have big plans for your children – unless you intervene to stop them. For those that have removed their children from public schools, there remains the threat to our civil society. Proverbs 14:34 says:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
President John Adams commented on the importance of morality to a constitutional republic:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Every citizen has a responsibility to ensure that school board members will promote policies that support morality and civil government.
Get Informed! Get to the Polls!
School boards often feel more accountable to the “professional” educators, than to the parents and taxpayers they represent. The root cause is low voter turnout and a lack of parental engagement. It is time for Christians to get involved, following the Christians Engaged model:
Pray for your school board, administrators, and teachers.
Vote in EVERY school board election.
Engage with the school board by attending their meetings.
As you engage with your school board and administration, encourage accountability and transparency about policies and curricula. Research school board candidates and select those that will stand firmly on Biblical principles. If you can’t find one – then run yourself. Attend school board meetings and meetings with school staff. Ask candidates, board members, and school staff substantive questions, like:
Are you fiscally conservative and will you commit to looking at ways to budget more wisely and to oppose tax increases?
Will you commit to transparency so parents know what their children are learning at all times?
Will you focus curricula on reading, writing, history, civics, and mathematics, or do you have plans to promote subjects like critical race theory, gender ideology, Common Core, or the 1619 Project?
Are you prolife?
Do you recognize a conflict of interest with abortion providers or affiliates providing curriculum or instruction in the schools?
Will you support Sexual Risk Avoidance (SRA) programs rather than Sexual Risk Reduction (SRR), in other words, consistent with how school districts handle all risky behaviors?[xv]
The low voter turnout in these elections is an opportunity. If only a few churches in each district can motivate a bloc of voters to support Christian candidates, we can change the direction of public education.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation"
Works Cited
Asmussen, Cindy. 2021. Email on School Board Races. March 26.
n.d. Brainy Quotes. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_adams_391045.
2021. Confidential Email. April 7.
2021. Confidential Text Message. April 7.
Dea, Vanessa. 2001. Abortion Debate: Do the Schools Have A Role in Counseling Girls? March 7. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/abortion-debate-do-the-schools-have-a-role-in-counseling-girls/2001/03.
Garcia, Brayden. 2021. Richardson parents clash over LGBTQ books in school libraries. April 7. Accessed April 13, 2021. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/04/07/richardson-parents-clash-over-lgbtq-books-in-school-libraries/?fbclid=IwAR2hs6YLlFKycI0mjRwb4HcCvESGtlew0wS7nqjFB2TpzqyQqGz6BQuX-lw.
Haynes, Carol Hornsby. 2021. Critical Race Theory in Texas K-12 Bills. March 16. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.educationviews.org/critical-race-theory-in-texas-k-12-bills/.
Hearne, Donna H. 2015. The Long War & Common Core. St. Louis, MO: Freedom Basics Press.
Houston, Daniel. 2019. Although higher than some cities, Plano voter turnout still low for council, school board election. March 22. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/news/2019/03/22/although-better-than-some-cities-plano-voter-turnout-still-low-for-council-school-board-elections/.
Justice, Christian. 2020. ‘1619 Project’ Founder Melts Down After Criticism Of Her Fake History. October 16. Accessed April 13, 2021. https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/16/1619-project-founder-melts-down-at-criticism-of-her-fake-history/.
Meyer, Elizabeth J. 2018. LGBTQ Inclusion in Elementary Schools: What Teachers Can Do. December 7. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/gender-and-schooling/201812/lgbtq-inclusion-in-elementary-schools-what-teachers-can-do.
Stephens, Bret. 2020. The 1619 Chronicles. October 9. Accessed April 13, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/opinion/nyt-1619-project-criticisms.html.
Tolin, Lisa. 2021. Texas school calls in counselors after teacher reads book about transgender boy. March 12. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.today.com/parents/texas-school-apologizes-book-about-transgender-child-t211557.
Waller, Allyson. 2020. Texas Board Revises Sex Education Standards to Include More Birth Control. November 20. Accessed April 12, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/us/texas-sex-education.html.
[i] (Houston 2019)
[ii] (Houston 2019)
[iii] (Haynes 2021)
[iv] (Waller 2020)
[v] (Dea 2001)
[vi] (Meyer 2018)
[vii] (Tolin 2021)
[viii] (Hearne 2015)
[ix] (Hearne 2015)
[x] (Confidential Text Message 2021)
[xi] (Garcia 2021)
[xii] (Justice 2020)
[xiii] (Stephens 2020)
[xiv] (Confidential Email 2021)
[xv] (Asmussen 2021)
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