Hundreds of candidates are competing to win seats on Minnesota school boards this November as outside political and labor groups are continuing to make public endorsements in what have traditionally been nonpartisan races.

The majority of Minnesota’s more than 300 public school districts will have school board seats on ballots this November. Since the pandemic, school board races — which are officially nonpartisan — have become increasingly competitive, partisan and expensive.

Last year, campaign donations soared into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in some races. Candidates clashed over culture war issues and partisan and labor groups released competing lists of endorsements for their preferred candidates.

This year, watchers say the open board seats are less contested and less expensive than in years past, but partisan and labor groups are still releasing dueling lists of endorsements, hoping to guide voters to throw their support behind their preferred candidates.

The conservative Minnesota Parents Alliance has endorsed 75 candidates in 52 Minnesota districts, and Education Minnesota has endorsed 89 candidates in 27 districts.

Just 14 districts have at least one endorsement from both groups and only three districts have full slates of candidates from both groups competing against each other. The number of endorsements is down compared to recent years.

In the recent past when given a choice, voters have tended to pick union-endorsed candidates as opposed to those backed by the conservative Minnesota Parents Alliance. Still, candidates backed by the group have won swathes of seats statewide, including majorities in several districts and half the board seats in Minnesota’s largest district, Anoka-Hennepin.

Both the progressive School Board Integrity Project and the conservative Minnesota Parents Alliance have invested in training candidates to run for school board seats.

The Minnesota Parents Alliance has not responded to interview requests from MPR News, but its website says it supports school board candidates who “prioritize academic achievement, transparency and accountability.”

The group’s Facebook page has touted the actions of past endorsed candidates who have gained school board seats. In Prior Lake, it praised its endorsed board members for “turning the page on the past several years of prioritizing ideological agendas over student achievement” after board leaders there voted to rescind an equity and inclusion resolution. In interviews, the group’s founder has decried board members and board candidates for advocating for racial justice.

This year in Prior Lake, four candidates endorsed by Minnesota Parents Alliance are running against four Education Minnesota-endorsed candidates.

“A lot of the parents’ rights movement conversations are still happening and … we are seeing a lot of attacks on LGBTQ students and their rights,” said Kyrstin Schuette, founder and executive director of the progressive School Board Integrity Project.

Prior Lake is one of several school districts where Schuette said she’s paying close attention to election outcomes.

Her organization has compiled but not yet publicly released the list of candidates who have been vetted by her organization and taken a pledge promising to advocate for “students of all backgrounds,” lead with integrity and allow space for “civil dialogue.”

“This year with the continued attacks that we’re seeing on public education from the federal government … it’s incredibly important that people stand up because the school board level really is the last line of defense when it comes to protecting strong, inclusive public schools,” Schuette said.

She said the candidates she’s working with have raised concerns about banning books and censorship in schools, as well as trying to pass referendums to ensure schools are sufficiently funded.

The state teachers’ union is also attempting to draw attention to issues it believes are important this year.

“Public education has a lot of challenges on the horizon,” Education Minnesota President Monica Byron said.

“We need to make sure that Minnesota schools have good school boards to manage those issues, some of which are spiraling … health care costs, cuts coming from state and federal budgets … culture war conspiracies and improving literacy and other forms of student achievement,” Byron added. “We want to make sure that our school board members understand the complexities of being an educator these days and remember that we are all in it together for our students and our communities.”

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.