Sidelined in Sacramento, California conservatives went back to school.
They won school board seats last fall and are now working to advance what they see as an agenda that respects parents’ rights.
Key examples are seen in the Chino Valley, Murrieta Valley and Temecula Valley school districts, which, following long, crowded and contentious public meetings, recently passed policies requiring parents to be notified if their child identifies as transgender. The Orange Unified School District board is considering a similar policy.
A look at the policies shows they share a lot of the same language. That’s no coincidence. A coalition of school board members and their allies drew up the policies and is sharing them statewide.
“Being that we knew as parents we needed to join together, it’s kind of what’s happening organically now with school board members,” said Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District board.
“You’re finding your people who are in it for the same reason as you were,” Shaw said. “And I think that’s the most beautiful part.”
Jonathan Zachreson, a conservative school board member in the Northern California city of Roseville, said he has been in contact with Shaw and other Southern California school board members.
“We all talk and work together to do what we can to share what we’ve learned and share resources to better effect change locally,” said Zachreson, who like Shaw was elected in November.
“(It) allows us to adopt similar policies much faster and not to do it in silos and figure things out on our own.”
On a macro level, conservatives hold little political clout in California, where Republicans are a minority in the state legislature, hold no statewide elected office and occupy 12 of the state’s 52 House of Representatives seats.
Last year, the California GOP…
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