School board elections are taking place all over New York Tuesday, and a list of anti-critical race theory (CRT) candidates are hoping for big wins.
The 1776 project, an organization that sprouted to counter the liberal 1619 Project, published a tweet Tuesday afternoon with a list of candidates it was endorsing in the state’s school board elections, arguing they “will stand against woke CRT madness.”
While typically quiet events, school board meetings became contentious amid the COVID pandemic, which brought questions about the state of education to the forefront of parents’ minds.
By inadvertently boosting transparency between parents and the schools their children attend, COVID unleashed so much fury that disgruntled parents were even considered a “domestic terrorism” threat by critics at one point.
Now, as those questions and concerns linger, school board elections have become high-stakes events.
Much of the recent concern has been over instruction on sex and gender identity to children as young as kindergarten level.
There has also been a palpable buzz about the implementation of “critical race theory” into school curriculums.
Critics of those raising concerns about sex and gender instruction in schools are speaking out ahead Tuesday’s elections. Much of their outrage stems from Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law, which has been deemed anti-gay and anti-trans by critics who argue the law is dangerous to LGBT youth.
“We need you to vote in the school board and budget elections tomorrow,” tweeted Kris Walker, a senior engineering manager at Disney, which has been outspoken against Florida’s new law. “Here is a graphic from the Take Back our Schools initiative on who they are supporting in NYS. These candidates have been funded and backed by national money to inject their politics into our schools.”
When voters cast their ballots in New York’s school board races on Tuesday, occurring in places like Long Island and Albany, they will also be voting on budget proposals in their districts, virtually all of which are seeking an increase in funds.
If successful, the anti-CRT candidates in New York would follow victories by anti-CRT candidates in Texas earlier this month.