PAC targeting local school board races

Letter from political action committee takes on ‘education establishment,’ asks for donations

As the May 16 municipal primary election nears, the politics of school board races are being fueled by a mailing from a political action committee used by Republican Hollidaysburg Area School Board member Lois Kaneshiki called "Taxpayers Unite! Blair County."

The six-page letter that was posted on social media Wednesday takes on "the education establishment" and urges voters in the Hollidaysburg Area School District to donate money to the PAC.

Kaneshiki's PAC specifically targets voters in the Hollidaysburg Area School District. In her role as chairwoman of the county Republican committee, she gathered other Hollidaysburg Republicans to survey candidates on their political values.

Because members of county political committees are elected by precinct, Kaneshiki invited other members of the Republican committee to survey their school

board candidates or hold candidate forums.

Altoona Area School Board members and Blair Republican Committee members Sharon Bream and Judy Berryman took Kaneshiki's invitation after first considering it a conflict of interest to be questioning candidates while also sitting on the board.

The Altoona forum is scheduled for Tuesday. Although the questions were shaped by Berryman and Bream, Bream said she removed herself from the forum by asking former school board member Cheryl Rupp to moderate the event.

Altoona Area School Board President John Donley is running for re-election and saw the questions to be asked at the forum. The questions are focused on taxes and spending. There are no questions specific to education. Donley said he is declining to participate.

"School board positions are designed by the Legislature to be as nonpolitical as possible. It is the only non-judicial position that candidates are permitted to cross-file between parties. Politics should be playing only the most minimal role in the debate over how to educate our most precious resource, our children," he said.

"For years and years, the political parties have stayed out of organizing debates for school board candidates. Unfortunately, that has changed with the rise to power of the new Blair County Republican Chairwoman, Lois Kaneshiki," he said.

Kaneshiki was not involved in the Altoona Area event but left it in the hands of Bream and Berryman.

Kaneshiki's statement reads: "My agenda is to have the best education possible at the best value for our taxpayers' dollars … trying to ensure that our children are receiving a fact-based education … without the intrusion of liberal propaganda."

"I see more Democrats on our local ballots this year than I've seen in the last four 'off-year' elections. … I need your help to make sure they are not elected to our school board."

In a phone interview, Kaneshiki explained why she gets political with school board issues.

"I think cross-filing is disingenuous. I think that you should have to show the public what side you are on," she said. "I think people's political affiliation can predict how people will vote on certain issues."

In public education, political affiliation can indicate not only how willingly people may raise school taxes but what kind of cultural values are taught through school curriculum, she said.

In addition to holding a spot on the school board since 2015, Kaneshiki is the chairwoman of the Blair County Republican Party. Her beliefs reflect the Republican Liberty Caucus as well as the tea party movement that encouraged conservatives to run for local offices after Democratic President Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration.

Conversely, with the election of Republican President Donald Trump, the

national progressive-minded Indivisible movement has taken root in local communities including Blair County. And Kaneshiki's manifesto attacks the group, calling its members "Trump-haters" and "extreme liberals."

Reached by phone, Indivisible Blair County representative Meera Bajwa said the group is supporting certain school board candidates countywide, and that she had seen Kaneshiki's letter.

"We have progressive values I would say. We support fact, science and evidence-based policy. Indivisible Blair County is … advancing certain candidates in the primary election. We support candidates who are Democrats and Republicans. We want people who want what's best for children at reasonable cost; we reject any notion that we want to waste taxpayer money. … We believe in the importance of education. We are big proponents off having an educated populace, and part of having an education is being open to all different viewpoints. Her letter was anti-education, anti-listing to different viewpoints and it was mean-spirited. We would prefer if she would have an open dialogue with teachers and Indivisible."

She strongly rejected the term 'extreme liberal,' saying the group is bipartisan.

In a statement sent to local news media, Donley has asked all other candidates for school director in the Altoona Area School District to join him by "renouncing Ms. Kaneshiki's conduct and the tactics of her supporters of injecting politics into a school board race; asking that Ms. Kaneshiki immediately cancel party political involvement in school board races" and also by "pledging to focus this campaign on how our positions impact our children and put political views aside when it comes to our local schools, be willing to work as a team and show respect to all stakeholders of the Altoona Area School District, including the students, teachers, all supporting staff including both union and non-union workers, administration and taxpayers."

Kaneshiki appeared unfazed by Donley's statement when informed of it.

"We believe it's important for people to know their candidates before they go vote," she said. "I don't know why that's controversial."

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O'Reilly is at 946-7435.