The Alabama Association of School Boards is the most recent state organization to remove itself from the National School Boards Association after executives sent a letter to the Biden administration begging it to take federal legal action against parents who are concerned about the content and quality of their children’s education.
“I will say [the withdrawal is] because of longstanding concerns,” AASB Executive Director Sally Smith told 1819 News. “The letter to the President and subsequent events was really the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.”
According to Smith, the AASB already struggled to represent the needs of Alabama school board members, so when the national organization’s leaders went behind state leaders’ backs to demand that the Biden administration use “domestic terrorism” laws to target parents who want to hold school boards accountable, the AASB dumped the NSBA.
“AASB chose to let its membership in NSBA lapse due to long-standing concerns with the organization’s governance and commitment to its mission and its ability to represent Alabama school board members’ needs. The letter to the president and subsequent developments were symptoms of that dysfunction,” Smith said.
AASB, like many other state organizations, previously testified that it was unaware of the letter until it was made public.
“While the AASB is a member of the National School Boards Association, members were not consulted about the need for federal intervention nor are we aware of any state making that request,” AASB previously said in a statement. “In fact, AASB believes NSBA’s letter requesting federal intervention is inconsistent with NSBA’s support for local control.”
Just last week, the Florida School Boards Association announced its departure from the NSBA over the unapproved surprise letter to the Biden administration.
“The board voted to condemn the letter that [NSBA] sent to the White House requesting the FBI to get involved with local school board businesses,” Escambia County School Board Member Kevin Adams told a local ABC News affiliate.
As of Monday, at least 27 state school boards associations have distanced themselves from the NSBA over the letter.
