Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #113

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving school board politics and governance.

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

  • On the issues: The debate over Ten Commandments in schools  
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • New York latest state to weigh classroom smartphone ban
  • Understanding the financial return on educational investments (Part 2): The MyFloridaFuture data
  • Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey

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On the issues

In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board members deliberate when they set out to offer the best education possible in their district. Missed an issue? Click here to see the previous education debates we’ve covered.

Louisiana passed a bill on May 28 that would require all schools receiving state funding to display the Ten Commandments. If Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signs it, Louisiana would be the first state with this requirement. In 2023, the Texas State Senate approved a similar bill 17-12 but it never received a vote in the House before the legislature adjourned for the year 

Jeff Charles writes that it is not the government’s job to offer religious or moral instruction in schools and is the parents’ responsibility. Charles says requiring Ten Commandment displays in schools would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. He says public funds would be wasted defending such a law. 

Matt Krause writes that the Ten Commandments are important to America’s moral, historical, and legal foundation. Krause says the Supreme Court’s decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District paved the way for a legal framework that would allow states to require certain types of historical and traditional religious displays in schools.

Louisiana Could Require Classrooms to Display the 10 Commandments. It’s a Horrible Idea | Jeff Charles, Newsweek

“Proponents of the measure argue that the Ten Commandments carry historical significance, given its role in the nation’s founding. But in reality, this endeavor is little more than a virtue signal that will likely not stand up to legal scrutiny. … [T]here are several issues here that cannot be ignored. For starters, House Bill 71 runs afoul of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which bars the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” By requiring every classroom to feature the Ten Commandments, a religious text, the state appears to endorse a specific religious doctrine. This is quite troubling when it involves government institutions students are compelled to attend. Moreover, it is not the role of government to teach people about morality through state-run schools. It is the job of parents to shape their children’s moral development. Folks on the right can’t complain about progressive efforts to indoctrinate children in K-12 classrooms while supporting a measure that could result in a different type of indoctrination. … [T]he inevitable legal challenges that will crop up as soon as the bill passes will cost taxpayers copious sums of money as the state tries to fend off lawsuits.”

We should display Ten Commandments in Texas schools. New court ruling means we can | Matt Krause, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“We need the Ten Commandments restored to our school’s classrooms perhaps now more than ever. Our youth need clarity on the historical and moral foundation of our country and its freedoms. Our history and tradition recognize the central importance the Ten Commandments have played in the foundation of Western civilization. … Among other concerns, some have argued that this proposal might violate the First Amendment. But the bill is good policy — constitutionally and morally. Were this bill proposed before 2022, opponents would be right that it would probably not pass constitutional muster. … [T]he sole basis for the ruling in Stone v. Graham has been rendered moot and meritless. The Court replaced the Lemon test with a standard of looking at ‘history and tradition’ to determine whether a religious display is valid. Under the history and tradition standard, the commandments bill passes constitutional muster. The bill easily passes the history and tradition test because the Decalogue is the foundation of our legal system. In fact, the Ten Commandments serve as the basis for all of western civilization. The commandments were a prominent part of American education for almost three centuries before the Court’s 1980 decision.”

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As part of our goal to solve the ballot information problem, Ballotpedia is gathering information about school board candidate endorsements. The ballot information gap widens the further down the ballot you go, and is worst for the more than 500,000 local offices nationwide, such as school boards or special districts. Endorsements can help voters know more about their candidates and what they stand for. 

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School board update: filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications

In 2023, Ballotpedia covered elections for over 9,000 school board seats in more than 3,000 districts across 34 states. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on the more 13,000 districts with elected school boards. 

Election results from the past week

California

On June 4, voters in California’s Temecula Valley Unified School District decided a recall election against Board of Education President Joseph Komrosky. As of June 5, preliminary results show 53.55% voted to recall Komrosky, while 46.45% voted against doing so.

According to the Los Angeles Times’ Howard Blume, “Komrosky was elected as part of a three-member conservative majority in November 2022. Upon taking office near the end of that year, the bloc immediately thrust the Riverside County school system of 28,000 students to the forefront of the nation’s culture wars.” 

The recall effort started after the board voted 3-2 against a new social studies curriculum published by the Teachers Curriculum Institute (TCI) at a board meeting on May 16, 2023. Board member Jennifer Wiersma, who voted against the curriculum, said that sexual orientation and LGBTQ issues did not need to be taught in elementary school. Both Komrosky and Board member Danny Gonzalez said they did not agree with the mentions of Harvey Milk in the textbook’s optional supporting materials. They both called Milk a pedophile in reference to a report that Milk had a relationship with a 16-year-old when he was 33.

Wiersma said the process of choosing a textbook needed more input from parents.

Wiersma and Gonzalez were both named in the notices of intent to recall, but recall supporters failed to gather enough signatures to put their names on the ballot.

Temecula Valley Educators Association President Edgar Diaz said the board’s vote left elementary school students without a social studies textbook for the 2023-2024 school year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on July 13, 2023, the state would provide the school district with social studies books to replace the ones that were canceled with the board’s vote against the curriculum. 

The board reviewed the textbooks again on July 18, 2023, and again voted 3-2 to reject them. After the second vote, Newsom announced that the district would be fined $1.5 million and charged an additional $1.6 million to pay for the state to ship the district new textbooks.

On July 21, 2023, the board voted 4-0 to approve the new curriculum. The vote also postponed one lesson for fourth graders pending further review. Wiersma and Komrosky voted with the other members of the board to approve the curriculum. Gonzalez was absent.

This was the sixth school board recall in the country to go to a vote this year. Later this summer, we’ll release our mid-year recall report on recalls since January. We’ll have more coverage of our findings on school board recalls in a future edition of this newsletter. Click here to read our 2023 year-end report. 

Upcoming school board elections

Nevada

Ballotpedia is covering elections in the Clark County and Washoe County school districts on June 11. These are the two largest districts in Nevada, with about 328,991 students and 67,300 students, respectively. 

Four seats are on the ballot in both districts this year. 

Utah

Ballotpedia is covering elections in the following districts on June 25:

We’ll have more to say on those elections in the coming weeks. 

New York latest state to weigh classroom smartphone ban 

On May 30, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said she would back legislation to ban smartphones in K-12 classrooms, becoming the latest state leader to propose using the law to address concerns that cell phones may be hindering learning.

Governors in Florida and Indiana have approved similar bills in recent years. 

Hochul said: “Why are young people on their devices all day long during school hours? How are they learning? How are they multitasking the way that they’re checking out what everybody’s going to be doing this weekend and scrolling and seeing different feeds and listening to their geometry class?”

Hochul said she hoped to act on the legislation in 2025, when the new state legislative session begins. Hochul did not elaborate on who would introduce the bill or how such a bill would be enforced. Hochul said students would be permitted to use flip phones in schools. 

The New York Legislature’s 2024 session is scheduled to end June 6. 

An expanding body of research suggesting cell phone usage may be linked to rising teen anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues has fueled calls for district-level policies or state-level legislation to limit technology in classrooms. Scholars continue to debate the relationship between cell phones and teen mental health, even as the share of teens with access to smartphones rises. A 2023 analysis of 200 students’ cell phone usage found that 97% used their phones during the day, and that included checking sites like YouTube while at school. In 2022, the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of teens say they’re online “almost constantly.”  

Districts usually set cell phone policies, including in New York. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), around 76% of schools said they banned the non-academic use of cell phones or smartphones during school hours during the 2021-22 school year, down from 91% in 2010. In many high schools, administrators allow cell phone use at designated times during the school day, such as lunch. 

Here’s a quick rundown of recent significant legislation and resolutions:

  • Florida: In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed House Bill 379 (HB 379), making the state the first in the country to enact a law limiting how public school students can use cell phones at school. Both chambers of the legislature approved the bill unanimously. In addition to banning phones in classrooms (with some exceptions left up to teacher discretion), HB 379 requires schools to block access to social media platforms like TikTok on school computers and Wi-Fi networks, except for educational purposes, and teach students in grades 6-12 about the dangers of social media.
  • Alabama: On Feb. 11, 2024, the Alabama State Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution calling on districts to implement policies “a policy limiting the use of cellular telephones and or other electronic communication devices while on school property.” The Board said it took this step because “national studies show that using cellular telephones or other electronic communication devices in classrooms can disrupt and distract from the learning environment, negatively impact test scores, and affect long-term learning retention.”
  • Indiana: Gov. Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed Senate Bill 185 (SB 185) in March 2024. SB 185 bans cell phones and other portable devices, including laptops and tablets, during class. Teachers can make exceptions to the rule for educational purposes or emergencies. The Indiana House approved the bill 83-8 and the Senate approved it 49-0. 
  • Ohio: On May 20, 2024, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed House Bill 250 (HB 250), which requires districts to establish policies on cell phone use in schools. Among other things, the policy must “emphasize that student cellular telephone use be as limited as possible during school hours,” and, “reduce cellular telephone-related distractions in classroom settings.” Although HB 250 does not require districts to ban student cell phone use outright, it does say districts can do so to satisfy the law’s requirements. The Ohio House approved the bill 89-0 and the Senate approved it 32-0. 

Additionally, lawmakers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia and elsewhere have introduced bills this year to ban or restrict cell phone use in schools. 

Although some states are moving to prohibit student cell phone use in schools, a recent survey finds that parents do not necessarily agree. In February, the National Parents Union polled 1,506 parents of kids in kindergarten through 12th grade and found that 56% said “students should sometimes be allowed to use their cell phones” during the school day, while 32% said “students should be banned from using their cell phones, unless they have a medical condition or disability for which they need to use a cell phone.” Most parents said they wanted their kids to take their cell phone to school so they could contact them in an emergency or as needed.  

When asked who should make decisions about school cell phone usage in schools, 29% answered the district and 28% said the school. Only 10% said the state should make those decisions. 

Understanding the financial return on educational investments (Part 2): The MyFloridaFuture data

Last week, we introduced you to our analysis of MyFloridaFuture, an online dashboard from the State University System of Florida for comparing salaries, student loans, and employment rates for different programs and career paths. The State University System of Florida developed the platform in response to a 2021 law. Through a series of snippets, we’re exploring MyFloridaFuture’s data and looking at other states with similar laws. This is the second snippet in our six-part series. 

The MyFloridaFuture dashboard includes data on the 417 majors offered through Florida’s 12 public universities, from bachelor’s programs to postsecondary vocational programs—and everything in between.  

Among other things, MyFloridaFuture users can:

  • Explore the average and full range of earnings data for each major
  • Explore full-time employment statistics
  • See the average student loan amount for all degrees one, five, and 10 years after graduation
  • Compare one major or category of study to another within the entire university system or a single university

Here’s an example of how this might work in practice. Prospective students could use MyFloridaFuture to see that one year after graduating with a master’s in Family Practice Nurse/Nursing, graduates had an average salary of $87,600. However, one year after graduating with a master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling, graduates had an average salary of $34,900. Prospective students could also see that one year after earning a Paramedic post-secondary vocational degree, graduates had an average salary of $60,122 and 87% were employed.

We’ll return next week to explore MyFloridaFuture’s origins and learn about other states that have passed similar legislation. 

Click here to explore our analysis of MyFloridaFuture’s data. 

Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web

This section contains links to recent education-related articles from around the internet. If you know of a story we should be reading, reply to this email to share it with us! 

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re looking at survey responses from incumbent Jennifer Aprea (independent) and Margie Johnson (R), both of whom are running in the Aug. 1 general election for Williamson County Schools, District 5, in Tennessee.

Aprea was first elected in 2020. 

Williamson County Schools is the sixth-largest district in the state, with an estimated student population of 41,387. The district is located outside of Nashville. Tennessee is one of five states, including Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, where state law effectively allows for both partisan and nonpartisan school board elections. In Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania, candidates in school board elections run in strictly partisan elections. Over 90% of school board elections in the country, however, are nonpartisan. 

Here’s how Aprea answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?” 

“I am personally passionate about providing the best possible education to ALL students, including those with disabilities, providing educators the best resources to help them improve student outcomes, and student safety.”

Click here to read the rest of Aprea’s responses. 

Here’s how Johnson answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”

“Schools were originally created to serve the communities in which they reside. Therefore, as an elected public servant, I want to ensure that the school board policies reflect the voices of constituents to ensure children are protected now and prepared for successful futures. If elected, I plan to work with constituents on a regular basis to inform them of existing policies and discuss with them what changes they might want to see. All in all, I want to implement policy that is best for serving the families in our community so that Williamson County Schools is the first choice for ALL families when prioritizing the education of their children.” 

Click here to read the rest of Johnson’s responses. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey. If you’re not running for school board, but there is an election in your community this year, share the link with the candidates and urge them to take the survey!

In the 2022 election cycle, 6,087 candidates completed the survey. 

The survey contains more than 30 questions, and you can choose the ones you feel will best represent your views to voters. If you complete the survey, a box with your answers will display on your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.