school board elections
Lawmakers are making more school boards partisan, and getting more Republicans elected
One local bill at a time, state lawmakers have nearly tripled the number of partisan school boards across the state over the last decade — often over the objections of school board members themselves. It’s a move some board members say is turning their school system from a hyperlocal, traditionally apolitical governing board into a contentious microcosm of national political debates.
In Martin County, a school board candidate felt the sting of weaponized conservative attacks
When Amy Swain decided to run for a seat on the nonpartisan school board she didn’t anticipate the conservative backlash both from outside and within Martin County. An education professor at East Carolina University with a long history of social activism, Swain was quickly and pejoratively tagged by conservative provocateurs as a promoter of “woke” culture who, if elected, would foist critical race theory upon the small, rural district’s nearly 3,000 students.
GOP’s “stealth slate” of candidates seeks to shift school board balance of power in one of NC’s most Democratic counties
On paper, electing a slate of registered Republicans to the Durham County school board appears to be a near mathematical impossibility. In this county, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 5 to 1. In partisan races, such as the Board of Commissioners, GOP candidates are rarely successful.