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Culture war issues like racial discrimination, LGBTQ rights and partisan politics have been flashpoints for controversy at public school board meetings in the Inland Empire in recent years.
In 2023, parents, students and teachers sued the Temecula Valley Unified School District on its policies to ban the teaching of critical race theory and requires teachers to inform parents if students change their gender identity. Last February, a the judge allowed these policies to standbut a new state law overturned the ban on parental notification.
It turns out that such conflicts are happening in communities across the country and are costing school districts billions of dollars a year in security, litigation and staff time, researchers with UC Riverside and UCLA reported in a recent study.
School conflicts have escalated since the 2020-21 school year, following disagreements over pandemic policies such as school closures and mask requirements. During the 2023-24 school year, disruptive cultural conflicts cost K-12 public schools $3.2 billion nationwide, researchers estimated.
They calculated the total cost per 10,000 students, based on a survey of 467 superintendents, who ranked their experience with problems including misinformation and bullying. The average was $249,765 for low-conflict districts, $485,065 for moderate cultural clashes, and $811,805 for high-segregation districts.
While debate about teaching methods and materials is expected and often productive, the researchers write, “our measures value conflict that violates these democratic principles, with a particular emphasis on threatening behavior, violent rhetoric, and the spread of misinformation.”
CalMatters spoke with UC Riverside professor of education Joseph Kahne, a co-author of the study, about the toll of culture war clashes in schools. His answers have been edited for clarity and length.
What are the main issues driving the culture war fights that you have studied?
They include learning about race and racism. How do you talk about slavery? How do you talk about Jim Crow? How do you talk about current issues of racism in society? You may also have culture war issues around LGBTQ+ rights. Some school districts are trying to ban the books. They don’t want students to read about sexuality in the literature competition, or about slavery and discrimination. You also face the one about politics. There are people who complain about showing the address of the country state in the class; people thought it was biased.
How do these disputes increase costs for school districts?
Superintendents have come across dozens or hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests. It takes time and money to put that information online. Sometimes you have frivolous lawsuits, so the district has to hire lawyers to answer those things. You need security at school board meetings because people have been yelling threatening things and you don’t know what’s going to happen.
How do cultural conflicts affect classroom teaching?
It has had a chilling effect, especially in some districts where the conflict has been intense. You find principals and superintendents not promoting teacher training on topics such as the history of racial discrimination in the US or climate change, or whether or not the 2020 election results were accurate. These are things that schools would do well to provide students with opportunities for fact-based discussion using evidence and arguments. This does not mean that everyone must think the same way, but schools can provide students with tools for effective discussion. But teachers say they are not happy to do so.
What can members of the public do to defuse conflict in schools?
When school board meetings become particularly aggressive and violence is threatened and accusations are thrown, many parents and community members decide, “I don’t want to be involved in this.” But this is when there is a greater need for the community to emerge and structure a more productive conversation
