The roles that parents, artificial intelligence and charter schools play in Orange County education are on the top of the priority list for the Board of Education candidates.
There are three Orange County Board of Education seats up for grabs on the 2024 primary ballot, with incumbents in each district running for re-election and facing challengers.
Related: Orange County Register’s March 5, 2024 Primary Election Voter Guide
Running for the 1st Trustee Area are Beatriz Mendoza, a financial services educator, and Trustee Jorge Valdes. The 3rd Trustee Area is a contest between educator Nancy Watkins and Trustee Kenneth Williams. And the 4th Trustee Area features Westminster School District Trustee David Johnson and OCBE Trustee Tim Shaw.
The Board of Education, as laid out in California’s Education Code, gives approval to the Orange County Department of Education’s budget and purchasing property. It also serves as an appeals committee for expulsions, charter school applications and inter-district transfers. It does not have a say over any district in the county, including curriculum.
But in addition to charter schools, OCBE also oversees some of the county’s most vulnerable populations. It acts as the “district” for some special education and alternative programs in Orange County.
One of the biggest divides between candidates — as well as one of the hot-button topics in California education — is parental rights, specifically when it comes to how and when parents are notified if their child may be transgender.
In districts that have adopted these policies, situations that would warrant parent notification include requests to use different names or pronouns or requests to change sex-segregated programs (like athletic teams or changing facilities) that differ from the student’s “assigned biological sex at birth.”
Orange Unified was the first Orange County school district to adopt the policy in early September, and Placentia Yorba-Linda…
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