FL: Waving the Sheep's Clothing

School Boards for Academic Excellence is a far-right organization was launched to "challenge woke bureaucracy." Yet they are brandishing their sheep's clothing, trying hard to look neutral and non-partisan. So why not wave their right wing flag proudly. I have a story from Duval County in Florida that is an excellent illustration of why these groups pretend to be something other than what they are.

SBAE's right wing credentials are unquestionable. Their leadership team combines experience from the State Policy Network, assorted Koch groups, the John Locke Foundation, the Heartland Institute, the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, the Independent Woman's Foundation, and more of that flavor. Their leadership team has previous experience lobbying against the ACA, attacking unions, and launching "classical" charter schools. And they have teamed up with Jordan Adams, a Hillsdale College product who has tried to make a dent in the business of dewokifying school curriculum. (If you want more details, I've written about the group here and here.)

It's a culture panic, Moms for Liberty-style, public school dismantling group. 

So why pretend to be anything else? Why not wave the MAGA hat boldly about?

The Duval County school board in Florida was one of the boards targeted by Governor Ron "Florida is a free state for people who agree with me" DeSantis, and the right has been successful in turning the board over. And the new right-wing majority would like to go to the SBAE conference in January, a conference co-sponsored by the Florida Coalition of Conservative School Board Members, a group with actual direct ties to Moms for Liberty. Oklahoma's Ultra-MAGA Ryan Walters and Florida's DeSantis sidekick Manny Diaz will be speakers.

There were members of the public that were educated enough to know what SBAE represents--an attempt to hammer a far right agenda into local school districts.

But board members just waved the sheep clothing. 

"This event is no different than any other non-partisan organization like FSBA, (which the board is attending this week) or the Council of Great City Schools conference which board members attended In October. It is simply another opportunity for our board to receive professional development to better serve the students of DCPS," Vice-Chair April Carney told Action News JAX, apparently with a straight face. JAX also copied some of the neutral language from the SBAE website. 

Meanwhile, First Coast News reached out to SBAE executive director David Hoyt to ask about the claims the group was hyperpartisan. “We are a truly nonpartisan group,” Hoyt said. Reporter Regina Di Gregorio asked about comments made and the fact that "conservative" is right there in the co-sponsors' title. “Conservatism is a set of values, it’s an ideology, but partisanship is a political party," Hoyt said. "So, I think there’s an important distinction to be made there," responded Hoyt. So, you see, ideologues can still be non-partisan. To her credit, at the end of her report, Di Gregorio wears an expression that says, "Yes, I know that's a bunch of baloney."

So why put on the sheep's clothing. Because it provides cover for folks who want to use super conservative activist services without looking like wingnuts. Because sometimes the press will not bother to look under your costume to see what's hiding there. Because it gives you something to say when people who have seen under the costume speak up. Because it lets the ideologues that want to ally themselves with you some political cover so they don't have to deal with too many of those pesky people who like representative democracy and public schools. 

Duval has its issues, like other districts, with financial problems and hiring challenges, so it will be great for the conservative board majority to go learn about how to manage the media and do some lobbying for your favorite culture panic issues. I'm sure that will help.

The lesson here is to pay attention and do your homework, not just for yourself but for all the other folks (including, in some markets, the media) who haven't. That's the only way to be sure you don't get surprised by a sheep with really sharp teeth.