Since then, this San Diego suburb has been a test of the religious right’s ability to put God into the nation’s public schools. So far, Vista’s fundamentalist majority has not managed to make any significant changes in the classroom. Most of its attempts to set policy have bumped up against legal mandates, state guidelines and local opposition, and emerged so mangled as to be meaningless. In August, for example, the board adopted a resolution opening the door to teaching “creation science” as an alternative to evolution theory. But the compromise also noted that creationism is appropriately discussed in socialstudies and literature classes, where it always has been taught, so it hasn’t been forced on science classes.
Meanwhile, the trustees have debated volatile social issues that are clearly beyond the purview of a local school board. In September, they called for federal efforts to stop illegal immigration, which some believe is overburdening the schools in this border town, whose population has doubled in the last 10 years. But other residents complained about “immigrant-bashing,” and last week there was a heated exchange over a liberal proposal to soothe the hard feelings with a statement that Vista “values our immigrant families.” Conservatives balked, and the board voted 3 to 2 to simply state that it values “our families.” “The original intent was completely lost,” says liberal trustee Sandee Carter.
The conservative majority has made it clear that it wants to limit support programs for disadvantaged students: it rejected a $400,000 state grant to provide health counseling to low-income kids and their parents. And it may yet have an impact in the classroom when it reviews the district’s sexeducation curriculum next year; the fundamentalist trustees are expected to strip most of the sex out, emphasizing abstinence.
All this leaves school administrators walking a precarious line between their superiors on the board and the teachers union, which adamantly opposes the conservative Christians’ aims. In a move to ease tensions, superintendent Rene Townsend recently proposed forming a “common-ground task force” of local residents to advise on teaching religion. But board president Deirdre Holliday and her allies saw that as a threat to their authority, and voted it down, 3 to 2.
If nothing else, the new majority has turned board meetings, once sparsely attended, tedious affairs, into rollicking town-hall debates. Factions are arrayed on either side like in-laws at a church wedding; partisans roll their eyes and exchange knowing glances. “They’re convinced this is a conspiracy,” says conservative John Tyndall about the liberal minority. “I know they don’t look kindly on me,” says Carter, who is Jewish. “In fact, they think I’m Satan’s messenger.” The more the fundamentalists press their agenda, the more they galvanize the opposition. “Turning on the light is what hurt them,” says Marjorie Van Nuis of the Mainstream Voter Project, who predicts that right-wing candidates will lose ground in 1994. But liberal board member Linda Rhoades concedes that the right-wing victories were a “wake-up call” to the degree of popular anger over public education. And the next election may turn on whether liberal opponents can put forth a more acceptable agenda.
