The school board association that wrote the letter to the Biden administration asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to crack down on “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” at local school board meetings is bleeding money following a national backlash.
The Washington Examiner reported that the National School Boards Association “is looking at a shortfall of at least $1.1 million,” following the fallout from its disastrous letter, which saw numerous state board associations cut ties with the national organization. The dues payments from those states totaled about $1.1 million, leading to the shortfall.
In a “Time Line of Concerns Raised by Members,” published by the NSBA, the national association names 12 states that officially withdrew membership from the NSBA as of October 31: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the letter from the NSBA was sent to the Biden administration in late September. Days after the letter was sent, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he was ordering the FBI to investigate a recent spike in “harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” against school board members. The original NSBA letter asked the Biden administration to use the Patriot Act to look into “acts of malice, violence and threats against public school officials,” which the association said “could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
In October, emails showed that the NSBA’s president and CEO sent the letter to the Biden administration on September 29 without prior approval from the organization’s board. The emails also showed that the White House asked the NSBA for examples of the alleged threats against school board members just one day before Garland announced the task force that would look into those threats.
On October 22, the NSBA apologized for that letter and the language it used. In addition, the association apologized for not getting prior approval from the organization’s board to send the letter.
“On behalf of NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter,” the organization wrote in a letter to NSBA members. “To be clear, the safety of school board members, other public school officials and educators, and students is our top priority, and there remains important work to be done on this issue. However, there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter. We should have had a better process in place to allow for consultation on a communication of this significance. We apologize also for the strain and stress this situation has caused you and your organizations.”
“As we’ve reiterated since the letter was sent, we deeply value not only the work of local school boards that make important contributions within our communities, but also the voices of parents, who should and must continue to be heard when it comes to decisions about their children’s education, health, and safety,” the apology continued.