(CALMATTERS) – As more public school board meetings become the backdrop of a growing culture war across the state, CalMatters’ K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones explores how “local control” is dividing certain school districts and state officials.

Some context: Last week, the Chino school board voted to notify parents if a child identifies as a gender different from the one assigned at birth. The debate got so contentious that Tony Thurmond, the state’s top education official who attended urging the board to reject the policy, ended up getting escorted out by police. In the same week, Temecula Valley Unified’s school board pulled an about-face and agreed to purchase state-approved textbooks that included a lesson about gay rights leader Harvey Milk — but only after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to fine the district over its initial textbook rejection.

Besides providing public comment or enforcing fines, what other powers do state officials actually have over schools? Among other things, they can push legislation.

That’s the path Assemblymember Corey Jackson is taking with his Assembly Bill 1078, which would make it harder for school districts to ban books. For the Moreno Valley Democrat, local control — the decade-old policy that gives school districts a large degree of control over how they operate and spend their funds — has gone too far.

  • Jackson: “I know my history too well to have faith in local control. If a school district discriminates against students, puts politics ahead of education, I honestly don’t have any limits when it comes to limiting local control.”

But some districts, even those that comply with state law, fear that bills like Jackson’s will chip away at their autonomy, and impose undue hardships on the vast majority of schools.

  • Troy Flint, California School Boards Association spokesperson: “School districts and county offices of education believe that their knowledge base and relationships, as members of the community, are essential in developing and implementing policies that make sense for their particular student populations. So naturally, they are very protective of local control.”

One expert Carolyn spoke to anticipates that the heated rhetoric between school boards and the state will only intensify as the presidential election nears. “I don’t think it’s going to die down,” said Julie Marsh, a professor of education policy. “School boards have become a pawn in a broader national campaign.”