In the Inland Empire community of Chino Valley, extremist school board members and so-called parental rights groups are pressuring schools to teach a narrow definition of who is a ‘real’ or ‘good’ American. Their goal is to limit access to ideas, identities, and experiences that fall outside their vision for the country and to replicate trends in other states.¹

School board elections have become an efficient way for these networks to attack school districts, gain outsized influence, build economic power, and advance extreme agendas that undermine public education and promote exclusionary private schooling.

Excellent public education strengthens our community. Over 80 percent of students in the U.S. attend public schools.⁴ Together, we can protect our students and our schools, but we need your help. Here’s what you need to know.

Driven by the opinion that extremists should control education, authoritarian networks organize to dramatically reduce funding and disrupt educators’ ability to serve all students.^{5 6}

Their strategy? Push an exclusionary agenda disguised as religious freedom and parental rights advocacy.⁷

This harmful agenda is part of a larger national strategy⁸ to privatize education for the benefit of the few, while vulnerable students in our community pay the price. We cannot afford to ignore this threat.

These attacks come from a coordinated network that uses money and influence to spread fear, division, and misinformation. Local members leverage national connections to impose their destructive vision on schools in the Inland Empire and beyond. School boards are a primary target.

By distorting real concerns about safety and educational outcomes, these leaders, influencers, and activists aim to impose an agenda on public schools that directly contradicts the values of our democracy.

When they win school board seats, extremists have the power to implement policies that harm all students, but especially poor and marginalized students.

This includes siphoning off public school funding, gutting disability, and stripping schools of diverse books, inclusive policies, and accurate history instruction.^{10 11}

In Chino Valley extremist leaders are utilizing a political playbook for building power and exerting influence. ¹³ They handpick school board candidates who promote their agenda and inject loads of cash into their campaigns, creating an imbalance that most local candidates can’t overcome.¹⁴

Once installed they use a variety of tactics to promote their agendas and undermine the democratic process. They may disrupt meetings, intimidate their colleagues, and disregard protocols to push their bigoted agendas and derail initiatives they don’t approve of.

The current attack on public education in the Inland Empire is a local example of a strategy being used nationwide to harm students and families. The more we understand the strategy and players behind these attacks, the better equipped we are to fight back to protect our public schools and, by extension, our vibrant communities and democracy.

Evangelical pastors Tim Thompson of Temecula and Jack Hibbs of Chino Valley use their pulpits to preach their politics, pushing harsh anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and conspiracy theories.^{16 17} They use their influence to help organize around school board elections with national groups like Turning Point USA.¹⁸

School board members have used their positions to create chaos and attack vulnerable students, disrupting educational experiences and costing the board hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees defending their performative and inflammatory actions and policies.¹⁹ 

Excellent public education is a vital common good that benefits everyone. We cannot afford to ignore this threat to our public schools.

While schoolhouse bullies are loud, they are far from the majority. Together, we can protect our kids and our public schools.

We can ensure that our community thrives and the authoritarians, extremists, and bullies don’t get to dictate what is best for our schools.

How you can help: