By Adam Pagnucco.
In Parts Three and Four, we described how an outside right wing group with national money could intervene effectively in our school board races. Now let’s look at the challenges such a group would face.
The Unions
MCPS’s two largest unions (MCEA and SEIU Local 500) are powerful, well-funded and intensely interested in the school board. At the first sign of national money, they will mobilize to stop any outside group. One issue they will have is that they don’t love the incumbents. Just look at the teachers union’s outrage over the sexual harassment investigation, behind which the school board has presented a (so far) united front. A potential three-way contest between incumbents, union candidates and well-funded right-wing outsiders would be a wild race. Could the unions and the incumbents make a deal?
Progressives
Progressive activists will be just as horrified as the unions at a right-wing takeover attempt. Let’s remember that this combination along with one other group (see below) defeated two conservative ballot amendments on taxes and council structure in 2020. Unions and progressive education activists are not always in lockstep, but when they get together, they are hard to stop.
The Democratic Party
The county Democratic Party does not endorse in school board races. But facing national right-wingers with lots of money, would they do it? Party endorsements of school board candidates are common in Virginia. A threat like this might cause the county Dems to break precedent and get involved. If they do, their impact could be huge.
Annapolis
Four entities in the state capital have substantial power over local school districts: the governor, the state Board of Education, the state Department of Education and the General Assembly. None of them want to see Maryland’s largest school system taken over by national right-wing groups. The governor and state legislators could provide funding and political support to union and/or progressive candidates. The state government entities do not play in elections but they can prevent extremist actions by school boards. And if necessary, the General Assembly can outlaw any radical measures.
Two elections
Let’s remember a principal finding of Part Two – one election is not enough to establish control. A sweep would require two elections. Suppose a national group catches the unions and progressives napping and nabs a couple seats in round one. Absolutely no one in MoCo or Annapolis would be napping in round two. And there might be offsetting national progressive money, perhaps from national unions, the second time around.
So when you add up all of the above, the likely outcome of any national right-wing takeover attempt is not success but rather conflict, both within the school board and possibly between the board and the state. Such warfare could make MCPS seem ungovernable to the public. In the view of those who oppose public schools, that’s even BETTER than a takeover. As headlines of dysfunction become a near-daily occurrence, parents of wealthy and/or high achieving students could pull their kids out of MCPS and perhaps even leave the county entirely. Average test scores would drop, leading to more bad headlines and more departures. The system would become less attractive to top administrators, teachers and prospective parents. The result would be a slow-moving downward spiral for MCPS – which is exactly what its enemies want – and a crippling blow to the entire county.
MCPS’s leaders can’t prevent an insurgency from forming. But they can prevent an insurgency from succeeding by showing that they can actually run a school district professionally and ethically. That means full transparency on spending, genuine collaboration with labor, fiscal responsibility and treating parents and employees with respect. It also means having school board members who are accessible, provide constituent service and exercise real oversight of management aided by independent professional merit staff.
This would require huge cultural change inside MCPS. But with right wing groups mobilizing against public education, it might be the only way to stave off revolt, conflagration and ruin.