Tipsheet

Ohio, Missouri Cut Ties with NSBA Over Letter to Biden

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  October 26, 2021 12:00 PM

School boards in Ohio and Missouri are cutting ties with the National School Boards Association over a recent letter sent to the Biden administration.

In the NSBA letter, the group called for federal assistance to deal with certain situations that could be considered “domestic terrorism.”

"We were not informed of or asked for any input into the creation of the letter sent to the president," Ohio School Boards Association Chief Executive Officer Rick Lewis said in a statement.

Lewis agreed that “threats of violence, abuse, or harassment” are not OK, but he said problems “should be dealt with at the local level, not by federal officials."

Even though the NSBA has since apologized for the letter, noting that “there was no justification for some of the language included,” the OSBA’s mind wasn’t changed.

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 “We believe the letter from NSBA leadership demonstrated how out of touch the national association is with the concerns of local school boards and the principle of local control," Lewis said. "Because of that, OSBA no longer sees the value of continued NSBA membership."

Similarly, the Missouri School Board Association also pulled out of its participation in the NSBA over the letter. 

“We also believe that no school board member or educator should ever have to endure threats of violence or acts of intimidation against themselves or their families for making these difficult decisions,” MSBA said in a statement. “However, attempting to address that issue with federal intervention should not be the first step in most cases, and is antithetical to our long-standing tradition of local control. Further, the use of inflammatory terms in the NSBA letter is not a model for promoting greater civility and respect for the democratic process.”