How nice of Axios to show such compassion for conservative parents who are being brainwashed by lies and propaganda.
The fractious Republican Party is consolidating around a “Protect the children” platform for 2024 that aggressively targets school policies on gender identity and how racial issues are taught.
A year before presidential primaries begin, Republicans see this as a winning formula that can fire up their base and attract some independents, pointing to the recent electoral success of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Much of the battle is being fought at the state and local levels, giving an edge to GOP officials such as DeSantis and Youngkin — both potential presidential candidates who recognized the potency of educational issues early on.
Driving the news: Former President Trump is now leaning hard into this strategy, unveiling sweeping proposals in the past week to ban gender-affirming care for minors nationwide and cut off federal funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” — without defining what exactly those terms mean.
Trump’s proposals targeting trans rights would be more restrictive than any being pursued by Republican-led state governments, in what could be seen as an attempt to outflank DeSantis on the issue.
DeSantis notched a major victory today when the College Board announced it would revise its curriculum for AP African American Studies after heavy criticism from the Florida governor.
The big picture: These debates often are tagged as part of the “culture wars,” but many parents see them as fights over the quality of their kids’ educations. Under the banner of parental rights, Republicans are seeking to build a broad coalition centered on frustrations that schools are acting against their kids’ best interests.
It’s not a nasty culture war issue, it’s not! Teachers and administrators around the country are acting against their kids best interests! Who can blame Republicans for taking up their cause.
But let it not be said that Axios doesn’t present the other side of the story:
The other side: Polls show most Americans favor discrimination protections for trans people but are divided on teaching about gender identity in schools.
Critics of Republicans’ push to restrict teaching of racial issues view the GOP’s efforts as attempts to bury America’s history of racism and its impacts today.
Yeah, whatever. Anyway, here’s what matters:
The GOP began to gain momentum on educational issues after lengthy school closures during the pandemic fueled opposition from frustrated parents.
Youngkin emphasized “parents’ rights” in an upset victory in blue-leaning Virginia in 2021 — an outcome that put education on the national map for Republicans.
After a successful bipartisan vote to overturn the mask mandate for some public school students, Youngkin also unveiled policy changes requiring schools to inform a student’s parents if the student wants to change their name or pronouns on their official records.
DeSantis took heat for championing legislation that would limit discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity for Florida students in third grade or below. But polls showed the legislation was broadly popular in Florida, and in November he was re-elected governor by 19 points.
And they’re right! Look at the numbers!
By the numbers: An October 2022 Pew Research Center poll found Democrats’ edge over Republicans on education was just five points. Education ranked the third most important of 12 issues tested, below the economy and the future of democracy.
A summer 2022 poll conducted in battleground states for the American Federation for Teachers union found that 39% of voters trusted Republicans more on education, while 38% favored Democrats.
Polls also show widespread opposition to age-inappropriate curriculum in K-12 education, though the details of what’s appropriate for kids have been the subject of heated local fights.
See? Democrat only lead on education by a mere five points! And they’re tied in a different poll! Obviously this is a huge winner for the GOP.
Governor Dreamboat is on to something:
What to watch: Much of DeSantis’ energy, as he mulls a presidential campaign, is focused on educational changes. He’s working to transform a progressive public honors university — the New College of Florida — to be more conservative-friendly.
He appointed six ideologically aligned trustees (including educational activist Chris Rufo) to the board. Already the new board has ousted the school’s president and taken steps to eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff.
“Conservative friendly?” “Educational activist Chris Rufo?” I guess that’s one way of putting it. A different observer might point out that he’s also hired a right wing extremist with ties to Christian nationalist Hillsdale College to be on the board and that Chris Rufo is not an “education activist” he’s a far right propagandist who works for a far right think tank that has made no secret of the fact that he’s creating culture war issues for the purpose of electing Republicans.
Axios points out how successful the strong and manly DeSantis is with all this:
After DeSantis banned the new AP African-American history course in Florida, the College Board stripped topics from the curriculum that had drawn scrutiny, including “Intersectionality and Activism,” “Black Queer Studies” and “Incarceration and Abolition.”
The College Board also added “black conservatism” as a research topic, though its president denies that the organization succumbed to political pressure.
Clearly this is a huge winner for the Republicans because they are on the side of “broad parental discontent” that has “achieved victories” in two states. Onward to a smashing Republican victory!
The bottom line: Republicans are tapping into broad parental discontent over educational issues and have achieved victories by rallying conservatives while engaging suburban independents.
Well, there might be a teensy hitch:
The risk for the party, however, is that the often-harsh rhetoric that draws in the base is alienating to many swing-voting suburbanites who determine elections.
Ya think????
Watch for more of this framing from the beltway. “Parental rights” is a very old right wing political strategy which they apparently believe was just minted by Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin and which they seem to think is very clever. Let’s just say it has always had no better than mixed electoral results but wingnuts gonna wingnut.
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