Schools become political 'battlefield' in culture wars Trump cultivated

 

 

Conservative grassroots activists have zeroed in on local education policy with a tea party-esque fervor for months — spanning debates about reopening, how to teach U.S. history and required masking. Now, conservative personalities are urging followers to run for school board seats that have rarely generated much interest, while dozens of activist groups focused on schools have sprouted to advance the fights.

Public school leaders and advocates said the movement seeks to delegitimize public schools while boosting charter and private schools. Tina Descovish, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and a former Brevard County, Florida, school board member, said that isn't the case for her group, which lists more than 110 chapters on its website.

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"Many conservatives are trying to blow up public education. We know it," she said. "I bet there's no secret about that. That is not the point of our organization at all. We love public education. We want to fix public education. We want to stay in public education. And we want parents engaged in public education."

The group's ultimate goal, she said, is to "pull some of this power away from the unions."

Read entire story by NBC News, Allan Smith here.