Empower Wisconsin  | June 20, 2022

The National School Boards Association has taken a hard turn left. Now it’s paying the price.

NSBA is the rat group that asked President Biden to sic the Justice Department on angry parents who speak out against tyrannical policies and leftist curriculum at school board meetings. Biden and his henchman, Attorney General Merrick Garland, were happy to oblige.

When the NSBA’s letter leaked to the public, members nationwide were rightly outraged. The group’s after-the-fact apologies didn’t ease concerns.

But there are bigger issues inside the National School Boards Association, as evidenced by the exodus of at least half of state school board associations from its membership ranks.

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards (WASB) cut ties with the national organization for at least the next school year. Maybe WASB, which is possessed of leftist inclinations in its own right, is playing the political waiting game. But the group raised a number of grievances with the NSBA in a letter to lawmakers.

“The board’s rationale for the decision includes ongoing concerns — many of which pre-date last fall’s events — about NSBA leadership, governance structure and transparency; the fiscal management and financial oversight of the national association; and its failure to prioritize and serve state school board associations,” wrote Barb Herzog, president of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, in a letter to legislative offices.

Herzog noted the bitter icing on the acidic cake was NSBA’s actions last fall that needlessly harmed school board relationships and inflamed partisan tensions.

“Those actions caused more than half of the state school board organizations across the nation to distance themselves from the NSBA or drop membership entirely,” she wrote, adding that the WASB is encouraged by the selection of a new executive director at the national organization and “will be anticipating positive changes.”

Apparently the NSBA’s request that state and federal law enforcement investigate “threats” against school officials as domestic terrorism under the Patriot Act was a bridge too far.

Now, the national organization, which has aligned itself with school boards that have pushed constitutionally suspect policies and silenced dissent, is losing a big pot of membership dues.

The NSBA is another political tool of the left and its mission to grow the power of government. It is Empower Wisconsin’s Tool of the Week.