Conservative School Officials to Speak

Getting a head start on their mission to reform public education, a group of newly elected conservative school trustees from across Ventura County will hold a panel discussion Tuesday.

The main topic of the round table, scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Casey Auditorium in downtown Moorpark, is the role of the Ventura County Board of Education and its relationship to local school boards.

But organizers said the discussion may also cover ideas for changing public education and their panelists’ reasons for seeking office.

The panelists are Norm Walker, newly elected trustee of the Simi Valley Unified School District; Elaine McKearn, just elected to the Conejo Unified School District board; Mildred Lynch, who won reelection to the Conejo board; and Angela Miller and Marty Bates, who defeated incumbents to capture seats on the county school board.

With the election of Miller and Bates, the five-member county board has three trustees backed by conservative Christian organizations.

Bates and Miller were endorsed by the Southern California Christian Times, a conservative newspaper. And county school trustee Wendy Larner, elected in 1992, ran with the support of the Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County.

“The makeup of the county school board has changed dramatically,” said Matt Noah, president of the Moorpark chapter of the Republican Assembly and the event’s moderator.

Even so, its clout remains limited. County school trustees work with the county superintendent to run 17 schools for disabled and troubled students. The board also approves the budget for programs to train county teachers.

But Noah said the panelists will discuss whether the county school board can exert more influence over local school districts in Ventura County.