School Board Watch

Below are sample talking points developed by the ACLU and partners that aim to highlight the danger of efforts to ban books and censor robust classroom discussion. Feel free to use these talking points as you approach suggested actions throughout the toolkit, including writing letters to the editor, sign-on letters, and when attending school board meetings to advocate for the right to learn.

Sample Talking Points:

• All students have a right to read and learn free from censorship.
• All students have a First Amendment right to read and learn about the history and viewpoints of all communities — including their own identity — inside and outside of the classroom.
• Book bans and classroom censorship efforts work to effectively erase the history and lived experiences of women, people of color, and LGBTQ people and censor discussions around race, gender, and sexuality that impact people’s daily lives.
• The First Amendment protects the right to share ideas, including educators’ and students’ right to receive and exchange information and knowledge.
• Freedom of expression protects our right to read, learn, and share ideas free from viewpoint-based censorship.
• Book bans in school and public libraries — places that are central to our abilities to explore ideas, encounter new perspectives, and learn to think for ourselves — are misguided attempts to try to suppress that right.
• All young people deserve to be able to see themselves and the issues that impact them reflected in their classrooms and in the books they’re reading.
• All students benefit from having access to inclusive teaching where students can freely learn and talk about the history, viewpoints, and ideas of all communities in this country.
• Every student should have the right to receive an equitable education and have an open and honest dialogue about America’s history.

Before we get into tactics you can employ in your advocacy, take a moment to think through the levels of government that are involved in making decisions and policy regarding education. Many attacks on the right to learn start closest to home. What do the policy makers in your school district have the power to do? How can they act to promote diversity and inclusion in the classroom? 

Our public primary and secondary schools are governed through a complex web of federal, state, and local policy. Elected and unelected officials at all levels of government have an effect on what we’re taught in school, by whom, and how — not to mention how it’s all paid for. 

The below summary broadly outlines the role that different levels of our government play in determining education policy. 

Federal Policy
Through the U.S. Department of Education, the federal government works to increase student achievement in four ways:

1. Establish policies related to federal education funding, distributes funds, and monitors use
2. Collect data and oversee research on America’s school
3. Identify major issues in education and bring national attention to them
4. Enforce federal laws prohibiting discrimination in programs that receive federal funding

Unfortunately, the federal government is currently using these four areas to target transgender students and to limit the information available to students about our pluralistic society and our nation’s complex history.  

Key Federal Decision Makers

Members of Congress

Members of Congress have the authority to draft and pass national legislation, including laws aimed at combating classroom censorship efforts and supporting the right to learn. Congress also provides funding to the U.S. Department of Education, and uses this power to set federal priorities and programs impacting school districts across the country.

Secretary / Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for administering federal education programs established by Congress, including initiatives such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind. These programs can substantially impact the ways states and school districts administer their schools by setting requirements (for example around curricula and testing) schools need to follow to be eligible for federal funds.

State Policy
The Minnesota Legislature and the Governor, through his appointed Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), are responsible for: 

1. Funding early childhood through secondary public education at all levels
2. Providing support and guidance to private and public early childhood through secondary schools
3. Setting broad policies for school-level curricula, texts, standards, and assessments
4. Overseeing educational services for persons living with disabilities and other special needs populations

Key State Decision Makers

Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) 

MDE oversees early childhood through secondary education, providing resources, support, and guidance to schools and districts.  MDE plays an important leadership role in establishing priorities and goals for the  educational system. 

State Legislator

In some states, state legislators are tasked with confirming the governor’s appointments to the State Board of Education and/or the Chief State Education Officer. Legislators also often retain oversight authority over these departments and officials. Finally, legislators have the authority to pass legislation that can impact curricula, training of teachers and administrators, and school funding.

Governor

Appoints MDE Commissioner of Education. Additionally, governors play an important role in shaping a Minnesota's education priorities and focus.

Local Policy
Local schools have the most significant control of any level of government on the day-to-day operations of schools. There are more than 300 school boards across the state that shape the experiences of students each day. Additionally, district and building level staff (such as superintendents and principals) implement board policy and impact student learning and experience.

School boards have broad authority to:

1. Set policy and oversee budgets
2. Oversee the day-to-day operations of the schools within the district
3. Make personnel decisions
4. Set curricula within state guidelines
5. Oversee training and professional development for staff.

Key Local Decision Makers

School Board Members

School board members play a critical role in overseeing the day-to-day operations of schools, and have a large impact on the district’s curriculum, teaching staff, and policies.

District Level Staff

District level staff (e.g., superintendents) are unelected and report to the school board. Different districts may hire different district staff to oversee school operations and make decisions. These may include positions responsible for teacher training, curriculum design, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB)

Principals and Other Building Leadership

Building level staff generally report to the superintendent of schools in the district. They impact school culture, are often responsible for handling student discipline, and often directly manage teaching staff.

Department Chairs

In many districts, department chairs are teachers in the department that have additional responsibility for helping teachers develop curricula, and assist in teacher training and development.

Know Your Rights
Library book resource

PA’s guidance on student walk-outs

School Watch Training PowerPoint
Back to School Town Hall Presentation.pptx

Start a student group
Bring students together at your school! You can start a club to discuss how you can combat classroom censorship. Find allies in your educators, librarians, and administrators to support your work.

Join an existing group
In your state, region, or local community, there might be coalitions or organizations that have a pre-existing infrastructure. If they’re already working on equity in education and curriculum, join them! If not, ask if they might be able to start working on this issue with you.

Create a banned book club
Banned books clubs can spark important conversations about issues of classroom censorship and help students access important stories they might be missing. Here are sample discussion questions to guide your book club conversation:

• What did you think about the book?
• Many book bans currently happening across the country target books that discuss topics around race, gender, and sexuality. Were there any themes around race/gender/sexuality in this novel that resonated or stood out to you?
• Why do you think this book was banned?
• One of the most common reasons for banning a book is due to “age-appropriateness.” What does this mean to you? Do you think this is a valid reason?
• Do you think this book should be banned from schools and public libraries? Why or why not?

Activate your Parent Teacher Organizations
Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) are meant to give parents a voice and role in supporting their child’s school. PTOs are important for making demands of a school not only because there is power in collective action, but because — as contributors to the school in the form of donations and volunteer hours — PTOs can have a lot of influence on school policy. Working within the PT) to make demands of your child’s school is a great way to use existing infrastructure to exercise your voice as a parent.

Write and Submit a Letter to the Editor
Letters to the editor are an important way to bring your message to a broader audience. Letters to the editor, or guest opinion pieces, are an especially powerful tool when they draw upon the author’s experience. As students, parents, and community members who are grappling with issues of inclusive education and classroom censorship, your contribution is important to this conversation. Below is our People Power letter to the editor guide, with useful information about structure, format and talking points for your letter.

Letter to the Editor Guide: Right to Learn

Petitions & Sign-On Letters 
Many of the stakeholders who create policy affecting your local schools are elected officials (like school board members, state legislators, and other state-level officials). Those who are not directly elected are often directly accountable to elected officials. Petitions and sign-on letters are a powerful tool to get the attention of elected officials because they depend on your vote!