Metro East Sun

Jennifer Korte is applauding conservative school board candidates in the face of the leftist curriculum in public schools.

She pointed out that “School boards are supposed to be nonpartisan."

"But we know there has been an underlying agenda from the top down, via the Illinois State Board of Education to indoctrinate our children,” Korte, Edwardsville GOP activist and former candidate, told Metro East Sun. “Illinois politicians have done everything in their power to take over local control and push unwanted curriculum in our schools.” 

Korte, an Edwardsville resident, said, she has “been following the curriculum of the Edwardsville School District in regards to their stance on the National Sex Education Standards.” 

“Illinois adopted these standards in 2021 and the material is not appropriate for our schools," she said. "I am relieved to see that Edwardsville has listened to the parents and has ‘opted out’ of aligning their curriculum to these standards. We need school board candidates who will continue to oppose this inappropriate material for our children. If this means recruiting, training, and supporting good candidates, then I am all for it. We need school board members who are strong enough to fight the woke agenda of our government and stand firm for what is best for the children

Korte suggested, "The candidates need the ability to represent parents and students while making independent decisions with common sense to promote good education. 

“At this time, I am still vetting the candidates for the local election. While I cannot vote for him, I like what I see with Michael Aden in Collinsville," she said. "I am still vetting the candidates in Edwardsville and hope to make a decision within the month.”

The 2023 elections include a Consolidated Primary on Feb. 28 if required and a Consolidated election on April 4. Macon County residents can have more information from the county website.

Due to education in the state trending left and poor results in such highly politicized environments, State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) has suggested conservatives run for local school boards in order to take back control of the reigns of education. “The conservatives have sat around here and said, ‘well, these school board elections are nonpartisan.’ So we kind of stayed out, out of a political presence in school board races, But the Democrats haven’t,” Caulkins, who represents District 101, told the Macon Reporter. “The Democrats haven't. They've supported their candidates and we end up with, you know, liberal, progressive socialists, school board members who then allow or promote that to the superintendents.” 

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) said the state has been usurping power by passing school curriculum mandates. "Speaking for myself, I believe the state places far too many costly, unfunded and burdensome mandates on our educators; not to mention the heavy hand of Illinois politicians and state bureaucrats making new mandates on curriculum,” McCombie told Prairie State Wire. “I believe in local control of schools, that school boards and administrators with input from parents are best equipped to make decisions regarding curriculum and classroom priorities for our kids’ education.” She also emphasized that since "local school board members live in our community and are accountable to us, the voters." It is just unfortunate that "with the state passing new mandates into law, local school districts across Illinois have no choice other than to comply," McCombie added. "We need to begin to return control of curriculum to local school boards and administrators while always giving parents a voice in their child’s education.”