While most people’s attention during the May 6 elections was centered on specific items on the ballots like McKinney’s airport and city council seats, a trend shifting the politics at North Texas’ school board races flew under the radar.
Since the pandemic, heated discussions have taken over school board meetings centered around conservative talking points like bathroom policies, book bans and curriculum content that touches on sexual identity, sex education and critical race theory.
In August 2022, this unusual focus on school politics caused for Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District to pass a sweeping set of policies targeted at transgender pronouns, library books and race. The next day school board vice president Shannon Braun published an opinion piece in The Dallas Morning News celebrating the policy and saying that it was the result of a political action model.
According to The Dallas Morning News, the wave of conservative new school board members elected in many Tarrant County schools was influenced by Patriot Mobile Action (PMA), a Texas nonprofit created in 2022 by a group of Patriot Mobile executives. The goal of the group is, according to Patriot Mobile’s website, “to further expand our Christian conservative impact.”
Following its mission statement, which includes saving America by saving schools, educating children with the values of American exceptionalism, banning “critical race theory and Marxist policies” and supporting candidates that stand for Christian conservative values, the PAC participated in the latest May elections by endorsing several candidates to occupy trustee places on several Collin County ISD boards.
However, despite PMA’s support, voters in Frisco, McKinney and Plano rejected candidates backed by the conservative movement.
In McKinnney all three PMA-backed candidates were rejected, and incumbents were returned to office. In Plano, where PMA didn’t endorse candidates, voters rejected more conservative candidates on the ticket, electing Tarrah Lantz and Katherine Chan Goodwin instead. Incumbent Cody Weaver, who expressed concern about culturally conservative issues, was not reelected, despite being recommended by some.
While PMA’s candidates had better results in less diverse suburbs like Southlake and Keller, two school districts that adopted controversial policies in recent years, voters in Frisco, McKinney and Plano seem to have rejected divisive politics in favor of more moderate candidates.