If there's a "culture warfare" happening within the usa, essentially the most attention-grabbing, if under-the-radar, battlegrounds is in neighborhood institution board elections. hardly ever does the pitch of this conflict achieve nationwide awareness, because it did in Kansas while the nation institution board—led via numerous outspoken conservative Christians—voted to delete evolution from the state's technological know-how curriculum and its standardized exams in August 1999. That motion rattled not just the academic and clinical groups, yet involved electorate round the kingdom as well.

While the flow of the Christian correct into nationwide and country politics has been good documented, this can be the 1st publication to check their influence on neighborhood college board politics. whereas the Kansas selection used to be short-lived, up to now decade in class districts round the nation, conservative Christian majorities have voted to put limits on intercourse schooling, to limit library books, to take away references to gays and lesbians within the lecture room, and to advertise American tradition as greater to different cultures.

School Board Battles reviews the inducement, suggestions, and electoral luck of Christian correct tuition board applicants. in response to interviews, and utilizing an intensive nationwide survey of applicants in addition to case stories of 2 institution districts during which conservative Christians ran and served on neighborhood forums, Melissa M. Deckman provides us an incredibly complicated photo of those applicants. She unearths weaker ties to nationwide Christian correct organizations—and extra similarities among those conservative applicants and their extra secular opposite numbers than can be expected.

Deckman examines very important questions: Why do conservative Christians run for college forums? How a lot impression has the Christian correct truly had on college forums? How do conservative Christians govern? School Board Battles is an in-depth and in-the-trenches examine a tremendous come across within the "culture war"—one which may good be certain the way forward for our nation's youth.