Bay Area Houston

Yeow! Just when we need less partisan influence in our school boards, CCISD Trustee Jeff Larson has been endorsed by an extreme national organization.

FFS Jeff! The 1776 Project PAC is a national organization whose mission is to “Change education one school board at a time”. CCISD is one out of 8 school boards under attack in Texas. Look at their website. This is an extreme far right organization supported by Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro. CCISD Trustee Jeff Larson is on their list of endorsements. I have asked Jeff if he applied for this endorsement. As in the past, I probably will not receive a response.

FOR THE RECORD: I have donated to Jeff’s opponent and for good reason. Over the last few years special interest groups such as Defend Texas Liberty, an extreme far right PAC funded solely by two Texas billionaires with ties to white supremacists, have spent millions to influence elections. Across Texas school boards have been taken over by extreme right-wing candidates some spending $50,000 to win a school board seat. They are constantly in the news such as Keller ISD Trustees inviting a Dutch Evangelist film crew to film kids without parent or school board permission. In Katy a Trustee sent out a Happy Easter photo from her KISD Instagram account posing with her husband, both carrying AR15s. 1776 Project have endorsed candidates in both school districts.

CCISD has had its share of partisan participation starting with the election of Trustee Scott Bowen. I’ve written about Bowen many times. He has been nothing but Corporal Chaos on the board and has recruited candidates to run to take over the board. Luckily, he failed, but he tried. Each time voters turned down his candidates. Christine Parizo lost by 25 percentage points. Misty Dawson lost by 42 points and sued the winning candidate attempting to get a new election called. She eventually dropped her suit. She was, by far, one of the worse candidates to ever run for school board. Peter Lauzon, recruited by Bowen, funded exclusively by Defend Texas Project was defeated in the last election.

Larson, unfortunately was right behind Scott seconding a motion to elect him as president, vice president, and secretary of the board. All three motions failed. During the recent forum Larson defended his partisan participation claiming everyone has a political preference (video of his comment here starting at 45:54) but that is NOT the issue. Everyone on the board probably has a political persuasion but most do not bring that into the school board or into the district. As Larson’s opponent has said “partisan politics has no business in our school boards”. Period. End of story. 

This endorsement is concerning coupled with the fact that Larson has reported $0 in donations. Who is funding Larson behind the scenes? Who is going to actually report their donations? The outside influence in CCISD has to stop. CCISD voters understand the importance of keeping partisan politics out of our school district but will have a very hard time defending the parents, teachers, and kids when outside PACs are spending $50,000 on a school board election.

Let’s thank Trustee Jeff Larson for his service to the community. Then vote him out.

Difficult questions should be asked.

CCISD will hold an election for District 4 on May 4, 2024. You can find all election information at their Elections Webpage. Candidates are being asked questions about why they are running. Community Impact posted the District 4 candidates, Jeff Larson and Albert Wittliff responses to their generic questions. I believe we need to ask a few more pointed questions. If you have other questions that need to be asked please contact me.

Fundraising. In the past few years significant money has been spent by out of district PACs and a particular political party trying to influence the vote. What is your opinion of accepting funds or in-kind contributions from these PACs and organizations?

Politics in Schools. Over the past few years CCISD has had major disruptions by board members bringing in divisive topics such as CRT, which has never been taught, is not taught, and will never be taught in CCISD schools. What are your thoughts about divisive topics being pushed by political parties?

Book bans. What are your thoughts about our public school libaries and the push to ban books?

Vouchers. School vouchers, or what some call school “choice” is very unpopular within the district and will drain much needing funding from the district. Would you support a resolution by the Board in support or against school vouchers?

Funding.
School funding in Texas has become an incredible mess. How can you on the board influence our elected officials to adequately fund our schools?

LGBTQ Issues
Our gay community has been under attack by anti-gay organizations some right here in the CCISD area. What are your thoughts about our gay community within CCISD including our teachers, parents, and students? Do you support the attacks by these organizations? Do you support attacks on any marginalized members of our community?

Safety
The district has spent millions of dollars fortifying schools yet the playgrounds, practice fields, and busses are still not safe from an individual with a military style weapon. Is there anything else the district can do?

Chaplains in School
The district can vote to have religious chaplains replace professional counselors at schools. Do you support this. If so do you support people of all religions serving as counselors? Do you have any exceptions such as a ban on Buddists, Muslims, or Nuwaubians?

Congrats to CCISD Board Members Jay Cunningham and Jonathan Cottrell! They are not opposed in the upcoming election. Welcome back.

Jeff Larson for District 4 drew an opponent, Albert Wittliff. He seems to be an interesting candidate. He was a former Special Agent at Department of Homeland Security. He doesn’t have a campaign page set up yet. Larson is running for reelection and has served on the Board for 3 years. I was not thrilled that Larson followed Scott Bowen’s lead on various issues. He even voted for Bowen for President, VP, and Secretary. Bowen lost all three votes. But, as I have said in the past, I have been told the Board is performing well and that is good for us, our teachers, and our kids.

It is great to see Jay and Jonathan returning. More information about the race in District 4 will be posted.