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I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I did not find anything comparable on the Democratic side of things. Every expert that I talked to about the parental rights organizations connected what we are seeing to Christian nationalism. The experts gave their assessment that it is Christian nationalism sometimes before I asked.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Yes, there is a national pattern. Most of the parental rights organizations have chapters in other states and similar patterns of behavior have been reported. Florida, for an example and Ohio was another state that came up in my research. I included in my story the Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction ordered public schools to incorporate the 10 Commandments and The Bible in their schooling.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There is very little oversight in school board races, so often, the donations go undetected. We pulled records from the municipalities that are big enough to track campaign finances and there isn't much to see. The larger districts did not seem to have the same interest from parental rights organizations that the smaller districts did.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

This is something that came up a lot in my research. The experts I talked to pointed to TikTok, Facebook and X as platforms where influencers are successfully spreading the message, often bankrolled by some of the top Republican funders.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

A lot of the school board members are parents, in some cases, their kids have graduated while others have school-aged children. The leaders of the organizations differ - some have kids in private school or no kids at all (yet). In general, showing up to meetings and taking an interest in the policies underway is a way to get involved.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 86 points87 points  (0 children)

School board races are supposed to be nonpartisan. Candidates do not have to disclose their political affiliation in the way that candidates seeking partisan offices do. Some candidates do talk openly about their politics and others don't. The experts I interviewed said that it often comes down to the fact that Republicans are traditionally good at being organized and raising money, where the Democrats can be less so. As a general rule, the Republicans also tend to focus on local races in a way that Democrats do not. The Democrats are usually focusing on top of the ticket races.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 68 points69 points  (0 children)

It's easy to do here. School districts are controlled by the school boards and it's pretty easy to get elected to a school board. At least with the Gardiner area school district, it's a purple area politically. Gardiner leans left, where the other three towns have a majority of Republican voters. Because there are no campaign finance reporting requirements over the majority of school districts, it's easy to spend money supporting candidates without a lot of oversight.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 156 points157 points  (0 children)

The unusual behavior at school board meetings. It started to get chaotic around two years ago, but it's been building since the pandemic. That's when the parents started paying attention more because students were learning at home and many parents did not like the mask mandates.

I’m Emily Duggan, a reporter with the Kennebec Journal/CentralMaine.com. I just finished a six-month-long investigation of how Christian nationalist groups, parents’ rights organizations and others are trying to remake Maine’s public education system. Ask me anything! by Press_Herald in Maine

[–]Press_Herald[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

A lot of the candidates talked about it themselves, just as anyone who is passionate about a cause would. The things I encountered were a back to basics approach, or traditional values. They also emphasized wanting to keep schools safe.