sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Election season for the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Public Schools board is officially underway, and a power struggle, most visible in races for two board seats, is brewing between the teachers union and the local chapter of a national group that鈥檚 increasingly wading into school board politics across the country 鈥� known as Moms for Liberty.

The sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Teachers Federation, which commands a bargaining unit over 6,250 educators strong, has been gearing up for this fight for about a year and has labeled its efforts in this year鈥檚 election as 鈥溾�� in 鈥渙ne of the most important board races 鈥� in the history of APS.鈥�

In the midst of a heated battle last year over a controversial parental rights policy, which critics said could make some LGBTQ+ students unsafe by outing them, even when they don鈥檛 feel safe coming out to their families, the ATF published an linking Moms for Liberty to the policy. ATF likened the possibility of the group and its allies gaining power over the board to a doomsday scenario.

鈥淚f (Moms for Liberty) and their allies gain the majority on our school board it is game over for APS,鈥� the article read. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have our chance to push back (one) year from this month. We must VOTE in the upcoming 2023 School Board election.鈥�

Moms for Liberty was founded in 2021 in the wake of mask and remote learning mandates and carries a central message of advocating for parents鈥� rights. has reported that across the country, the group has been criticized for making pushes in districts to remove books from libraries that mention or center on messages of diversity, and for spreading anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Alabama, has classified Moms for Liberty , describing it as a 鈥渇ar-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities.鈥�

The group鈥檚 leaders, however, including the founder of Moms for Liberty鈥檚 local chapter, Sarah Jane Allen, have rejected those claims.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where they get the 鈥榚xtremist group鈥� from,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just parents.鈥�

The local chapter of the group wasn鈥檛 in place until August 2022, Allen said, and thus did not officially endorse any of the candidates in the 2021 elections. Still, she says she to the current school board, and the now officially in-place chapter is supporting candidates in two races this year: incumbent Peggy Muller-Arag贸n for District 2 and Stephen Cecco for District 4.

Cecco told the Journal about his last-minute decision to file for the District 4 race that when Moms for Liberty heard he was running, the group 鈥渃ame in to support.鈥�

鈥淭hey鈥檙e taking parents鈥� rights away, which is completely against anything that I believe in,鈥� he said, speaking in general about New Mexico鈥檚 education system. 鈥淎 young kid, especially a middle-school child, can鈥檛 figure out what flavor ice cream they want. And they鈥檙e supposed to be given the job of figuring out their gender? That鈥檚 sick.鈥�

Muller-Arag贸n declined to comment on this story.

The ties

According to campaign finance filings in the 2021 election, board Secretary , member and member each received contributions from Allen and her husband.

Gonzales and Tapia-Romero each received at least $500. Jackson received at least $1,375 overall. Allen, however, said those contributions were personal ones from her and her husband.

鈥淭hey had the same values as I did. They always said, 鈥榃e鈥檒l listen to the parents and the children 鈥� we鈥檒l put the children first,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hey also believed that children need to be returned to the classroom.鈥�

Tapia-Romero said she is not at all affiliated with Moms for Liberty, and that her primary hope for the coming election was that 鈥渢hey鈥檙e aligned with the new system that we鈥檝e adopted.鈥�

Gonzales said her contribution came primarily from Allen鈥檚 husband, that their conversations only surrounded topics like workforce development, that she had no affiliation with Moms for Liberty and that she would 鈥渃ompletely condemn their platform.鈥�

Gonzales, Tapia-Romero and Jackson also were supported by the New Mexico chapter of commercial real estate association NAIOP鈥檚 political action committee and the Greater sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Chamber of Commerce.

During last year鈥檚 controversy over the parental rights policy, Jackson, the lead author on the proposal (which was ultimately approved, with revisions), said at the time that it wouldn鈥檛 grant any rights to parents or guardians that they don鈥檛 already have in APS.

Instead, she said, it just consolidates those rights into one accessible place, and that she based the idea for the proposal on community members reaching out with questions, which she herself had a hard time finding answers to.

That closely mirrored language in an op-ed penned by Allen and published in the Sept. 11, 2022, edition of the Journal, which read the policy 鈥渄oes not create, grant or give any rights to parents that are not already present within the district.鈥�

鈥淲hat it does instead is consolidate, make accessible and give an understanding of what exists in policies, procedures and state and federal law,鈥� Allen continued. She also wrote the policy 鈥渨ound up being tabled by the board due to pressure from outside groups that seem intent on pushing their agendas onto schoolchildren.鈥�

Allen said she only speaks with Jackson about issues facing the school board, to include the parental rights policy, because she鈥檚 her district school board member.

鈥淚 do not abuse our friendship,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e understand each other, and we both have a desire for our children to get educated. That is where we are on the same page.鈥�

Jackson added that she and Allen initially connected over her platform of running 鈥渢o be the parents鈥� voice on the board of education,鈥� but that Allen does not influence Jackson鈥檚 votes.

鈥淚 am making all of my decisions based on what is best for student outcomes,鈥� Jackson said.

The teachers union has historically also had a hand in school board races, which is common for many districts. Board President Yolanda Montoya-Cordova and members Barbara Petersen and Josefina Dom铆nguez, for example, all have been backed by the ATF.

But ATF President Ellen Bernstein said neither she nor the union is constantly bending their ears telling them how to vote on specific issues.

鈥淭hat would be some heavy-duty lobbying,鈥� she said. 鈥淥nce we endorse somebody, and we work for them, and we go to their house and knock on doors with them, and talk with them 鈥� and then they get elected 鈥� we trust them to do the job with the philosophy that we endorsed them for.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e never found it important to have regular communication unless something is alarming,鈥� she added.

In years past, the APS school board has been dominated by union-backed candidates. But that changed about two years ago.

During the last elections, in 2021, three of the four newly elected board members 鈥� Jackson, Tapia-Romero and Gonzales 鈥� beat out the union鈥檚 picks for the seats, with Dom铆nguez being the only ATF-backed candidate to win her election.

And this year, two of the three seats up for grabs are held by union-endorsed board members who have decided not to run again 鈥� Montoya-Cordova, of District 1, and Petersen, of District 4 鈥� meaning that now, the union is in a position of hoping to keep those seats and, possibly, wrest away the District 2 seat.

鈥淲e have one person right now (Dominguez) who was a former teacher 鈥� very respectful, understands the work of public education, chooses to lead from a very broad lens, cares about equity, cares about attracting and retaining the professionals we need,鈥� Bernstein said. 鈥淲e need to give her three friends.鈥�

This year鈥檚 election, Bernstein added, is going to be a 鈥渧ote of belief system.鈥�

鈥淧eople who believe in public education, who are respectful of educators and the incredible work we do every day, who understand the role of public education in our society 鈥� I think those people need to understand what other people with malicious intent and a lot of money to spend are doing and what they want to do with our schools,鈥� she added.

Allen, for her part, said the race is important because 鈥淚 believe that (Muller-Arag贸n and Cecco) are more willing to listen to the values of a family and the parents than the other candidates are.鈥�

Jackson, though, rejected the idea of the upcoming election as a political power struggle, and insisted it should be focused on the betterment of APS鈥� students.

鈥淲hat everybody should be focusing on is student outcomes, and 鈥� who鈥檚 going to focus on the goals, who鈥檚 going to focus on the guardrails, who鈥檚 going to support the strategic plan. This upcoming election is about candidates who want to see our students improve, who want to see our outcomes get better,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 be focusing on what divides us. We should be focusing on what brings us together,鈥� she added.