New York-based PAC targets Kansas school board races

Blue Valley, Lansing, Chanute and Baldwin City face interference from the 1776 Project PAC but other districts are facing similar misinformation campaigns from candidates backed by Moms for Liberty and similar groups. Please help make sure your communities are informed. Read more from this post we’re sharing from Stand Up Blue Valley.

From Stand Up Blue Valley, posted on Facebook Sept. 11, 2023:

As promised: hostile outsiders are back, with plans to TAKE OVER our school board (their exact words). How will Blue Valley combat anti-public education millionaires who want control of our kids’ schools?

And what will you do to help?

The 1776 Project PAC, a New York-based political action committee, inserted itself into our 2021 Blue Valley School Board elections; they made endorsements, sent mailers and texts to voters, and made news on behalf of THEIR candidate slate. We warned voters against those 1776 candidates – but two were elected anyway: Jim McMullen and Kaety Bowers. (Bowers resigned from the BV BoE earlier this year.)

The 1776 Project PAC misrepresents information and lies about how public school teachers address history. 1776 fans culture war flames to play on voter fears and pit neighbor-against-neighbor in the communities their PAC infiltrates. In 2021, their PAC misrepresented and lied about how our Blue Valley teachers address the history of race in America, and their endorsed candidates followed suit, falsely claiming that Blue Valley Schools uses or teaches “CRT” and using racist innuendo to alarm certain voters. This is STILL the agenda of 1776, and Blue Valley voters must say NO in 2023.

Since 2021, 1776 has endorsed school board candidates in 13 states, in some of the best districts in the country. And those 1776ers who won are wrecking things.

Douglas County, CO: Since taking over the school board, 1776-backed school board members have held secret illegal meetings, fired the well-respected Superintendent, and have so far cost the school district close to a MILLION dollars between legal fees and a wrongful-termination settlement.

Carroll County, Maryland: 1776-backed school board members argued against teaching high school kids health, and voted to limit conversations on politics in classrooms. MANY high school classes, including AP courses that provide college credit with a passing score, would be impacted by such a restriction.

Olathe, KS: 1776-backed school board member Brian Connell was censured by the Board over his pattern of outbursts, yelling and storming out of meetings. During a special meeting in May, the board voted 5-2 to remove Connell from committee assignments and barred him from serving in leadership positions.

Blue Valley: 1776 candidate Jim McMullen made headlines for tweeting bigoted statements, using his school board title as part of his Twitter profile. More headlines ensued when he was then removed from the Board VP position by a vote of the Board. Recently, McMullen voted against funding district social workers, voted against Blue Valley Schools’ contract with Microsoft (without which the district would have been crippled), and voted against high school sports resources. Now McMullen – an original member of the local Moms For Liberty chapter – has teamed up with MFL to endorse like-minded candidates in 2023.

Blue Valley: Another 1776 candidate, Kaety Bowers, was called out by SUBV for using the Kansas Policy Institute’s false talking points during her campaign. Bowers was also McMullen’s lone supporter following his bigoted social media statements and did not vote to remove him as Board Vice President as a consequence of his actions. (McMullen was removed after he and Bowers were the only Board members who supported his actions.) Bowers resigned from the Board in May 2023.

Now the 1776 Project PAC has endorsed four candidates for our Blue Valley School Board in the Nov. 7, 2023 election. These four candidates are also supported by Moms For Liberty, by Board member Jim McMullen, and by state legislators who vote AGAINST our kids’ Blue Valley Schools.

How does Blue Valley fight back against the deep pockets of out-of-state organizations working nationally to disrupt and destroy our excellent public schools? How do we protect our community’s schools from these ultra-rich investors who want to privatize public education so they can profit from it?

Concerned Blue Valley parents and citizens MUST work to Get Out The Vote. McMullen won by only 51 votes out of over 27,000 – and on that ballot, 948 voters did not vote in the School Board race. They made the effort to vote – but missed the memo about School Board! In 2021, only 25% of eligible voters cast a ballot! SUBV members know: we’ve got mail voting, advance in-person voting, and election-day voting opportunities. We must work together to inform neighbors and friends about the importance of this election, the ways they can conveniently vote, and the sources they can use to inform their votes. It’s time to get started.

Read more about the 1776 Project PAC here: https://www.standupbluevalley.org/…/1776-project-pac