For the past two years, two distinct but connected phenomena have dominated American schooling. The first of these is the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated school closures, mask and vaccine mandates, and forced online learning. The second is the rapacious embrace of racial and gender identity politics in K-12 classrooms. The latter, of course, has been permeating American education for many years but was thrown into acute focus following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

Students’ largely helpless parents, meanwhile, have had to watch their children face undue social isolation, lose foundational years of behavioral and intellectual development, or be told that the color of their skin marks them as either indelibly wicked or hopelessly oppressed. School board meetings gave these parents a chance to be heard; elections, for both school board and statewide offices, made sure someone was listening. And this rational, peaceful exercise in civic life was met with outrage from education officials, unions, and their supporters.