The Chandler Education Association, CEA, is endorsing incumbent member Lara Bruner, and newcomer leftist radical Patti Serrano.
The teachers union debate between the five candidates for the two available spots on the Chandler Unified School District, CUSD80, board was a disaster. The only signs of intelligence came from Kurt Rohrs. Republican Charlotte Golla was unrecognizable as such, caving to every single union demand and even trying to outdo the union member leftists. Pink-haired radical incumbent Lara Bruner, a psychology teacher working in the Tempe Unified District, promised to use her position on the board to advance union interests. Newcomer Patti Serrano, a presumed Marxist, did the same, and then some. Both Bruner and Serrano have no business leading a school district and being in charge of our children. Hard as it is to believe, both are slightly less radical than incumbent Lindsay Love, who isn't running for re-election.
The debate also showed the utter futility and political malpractice of Republican candidates who practice moderation and pander to their political opposition in a red wave year with a far left diversity-equity regime in charge of the country, and deeply underwater in opinion polls. In the August primaries we saw how Republican Chandler city council candidates weighed the non-discrimination ordinance at the Chandler Pride Forum, trying to hunt for voters among an audience that overwhelming votes for the left. At the same time they did not make a concerted outreach to the right. Both lost, decisively.
Chandler Teachers Union endorses the most radical far left candidates
According the the will of its members, unionized Chandler public school teachers, the CEA endorses Lara Bruner and Patti Serrano. Union members voted for the candidates after the debate had concluded. As the table below shows, Golla's pandering to the union yielded hardly any results as only 12% voted for her. She alienated her natural right wing base, and got nothing for it in return as the leftists still don't support her. Rohrs, who is NOT hard right by any means, but was at least not caving to every union whim, got 4%. Bruner got 80% and Serrano 64%. Estes who is running on a slightly more moderate platform, compared to the two radicals, got 24%:
Lara Bruner: 80%
Patti Serrano: 64%
Marilou Estes: 24%
Charlotte Golla: 12%
Kurt Rohrs: 4%
The results, if - a big if given that they come from a teachers union - they can be believed, are quite clear, and they are concerning. Rohrs and Golla have been spending time to fight against the right wing of their own supporters. Rohrs was vocally attacking parents who fought against the November 2021 budget override. Golla caved to union demands. She was pro-override as well, although she didn't make noise about it like Rohrs did. This has reduced their appeal with the right without increasing their appeal with the left wing.
Worse, Marilou Estes, who we had originally assumed to be a spoiler splitting the left wing vote, looks more likely now to aim to be a centrist candidate. The results from the teachers union poll show that she won't be peeling off much from the left, but instead may snatch up some of the centrist voters that Rohrs and Golla presumably aim to court in lieu for the right wing of their own party. Having alienated some of these conservative voters, and with Estes present to compete with them for the center, while Bruner and Serrano have the left and hard left locked up, this could lead to an across the board loss for Republicans.
Rohrs seems to have shifted to the right a little in recent weeks. To win, Rohrs and Golla should unequivocally stand for children and parents, and against union interests, against mask and vax mandates, CRT, DEI, SEL, sexualization and grooming, bloated budgets and waste fraud and abuse. They should vow to fight the equity cartel and the wokesters who poison the education system. The left hates you anyway. Wear it as a badge of honor and represent the right instead.
Republican school board candidates should unequivocally support school choice. As of now Rohrs and Golla appear to barely mention school choice, despite Arizona Governor Doug Ducey having recently signed the largest school choice law in the nation, the ESA Expansion. Teachers unions had fought this bill viscously, including lying about their signature count for the veto referendum they filed to stop the bill. They ultimately failed to kill the bill, but their anti-children, anti-parent, anti-family, anti-education shenanigans delayed it.