Copyright Forbes
The Central Bucks School District was, for a while, a nationally-noted example of a board that was remade in a conservative culture war image. Tuesday’s blue wave washed away the last traces of that image. Central Bucks drew national attention for implementing a wave of conservative policies. They instituted abook banning policy, aided by the Independence Law Firm, the legal arm of the Pennsylvania Family Institute ("Our goal is for Pennsylvania to be a place where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished.") They banned pride flags. They suspended a teacher who defended LGBTQ students. They implemented a policy that required the school to out LGBTQ students with a "gender identification procedure." No student name changes were allowed without a note from home. Both the ACLU and the U.S. Department of Education came after the district for creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students-- so they hired a noted anti-LGBTQ lawyer to do an internal investigation; the resulting report might not have been entirely forthcoming (but it was expensive). They hired Superintendent Adam Lucabaugh, who was ideologically aligned with the board. It looked as if the district would be a model of what could happen when a board brought culture war policies and politics to a school district. Other districts in the state with conservative board majorities used Central Bucks as a model. But then, in November 2023, the winds shifted. The 2023 election wiped out the conservative majority on the board, despite heavy spending in the election. Lucabaugh quickly resigned and before the new board members were seated, the conservative members provided him with a hefty severance package. Once the new board was in place, two conservative members quit. The board filled those vacancies with two Democrats who had lost the 2021 election to the two members who resigned. MORE FOR YOU Many voters had found the conservative board secretive, overly restrictive, and, between their compensation for administration and legal costs of various court battles plus eventual settlements, expensive. This year’s election would be a test. Had the backlash worn itself out? Had the Democrats overplayed their hand? Apparently not. There were four seats up for grabs on the nine-seat board, and Democrats won all of them. Democrats now hold a 9-0 majority on the board. Diana Leygerman, communications director for the Democratic slate, told Fallon Roth at the Philadelphia Inquirer, that she believes “this has not happened in a very long time, if ever.” Analysis by Roth and Katie Bernard at the Inquirer suggests that this was not so much a victory in the culture wars as a rejection of them. Candidates called culture warfare a “distraction” and even the GOP candidates who would go on to lose told the Inquirer that voters are more concerned about academics and school taxes. Pennsylvania school districts are dealing with budget stalemates at both the federal and state level, making funding a very present concern for Pennsylvania families. Meanwhile, Moms for Liberty claim that seventeen of their endorsed school board candidates won their races across the country, a considerable drop from their heyday in 2021 and 2022, when hundreds of Moms for Liberty candidates swept into school boards across the country. At this year’s summit as reported by Laura Pappano for Hechinger Report, Moms for Liberty leaders encouraged its members to focus less on school board seats and more on turning grievances into lawsuits.
