Episode 27: School Board Candidates

When you get down to the level of School Board, many voters find themselves in the dark. School board seats are non-partisan, and the YCDP does not endorse any. There is a fairly new organization in York County called CAPE (Community Advocates FOR Public Education) that has taken on the mission of getting the word out. CAPE is also non-partisan and education focused, but they do advocate for all students. They recently participated in a School Board Candidate Forum hosted by - yes - the York County Conservative Club. All but two of the candidates from the four school districts were able to attend. Each candidate spoke for two minutes, and there was no Q&A. CAPE offered a video recording of the event to YCDP-TV, and we’re happy to add it to our podcasts.And although we at YCDP don’t endorse candidates for these non-partisan seats, we know - and you know - that School Board has become highly political, thanks to some on the far right who have been campaigning to end things like letting kids know that gay and trans people even exist, or that our nation’s history has some unpleasant things in it. They have been running candidates for school board seats from which they launch their agenda on the schools. Some of the candidates you’ll hear from make their position clear. Some couch it in dog-whistle statements. And some - most? - are really just there for the sake of education. A candidate with progressive leaning can’t say that overtly in this pretty red county and still be elected.