Eric Schmitt declares war on Missouri school boards. Our kids’ education is at risk

Eric Schmitt’s war on public education is escalating.

Not content with filing frivolous anti-mask cases against dozens of school districts — and, in one case, blaming “excusable neglect” for missing a deadline — Schmitt has trained his legal guns on hundreds of school board officials facing vicious abuse for doing their jobs.

Tuesday, the busy-doing-nothing Missouri attorney general sued the Missouri School Boards’ Association, a group that represents volunteer school board members across the state. The lawsuit accused the MSBA of violating the state’s Sunshine Law.

Try not to laugh too hard. No public official in Missouri history has done more damage to open government and the Sunshine Law than Eric Schmitt. His office delays Sunshine Law requests for months. His answers are non-responsive. He hides behind a smokescreen of deception and misdirection.

Now, though, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate thinks the MSBA is a “quasi-governmental” body that must disclose its internal documents related to the federal effort to de-escalate confrontations at school board meetings.

“MSBA has public records in its possession relating to the … Biden Administration’s effort to investigate parents as ‘domestic terrorists,’“ the lawsuit claims.

As a threshold matter, the courts will have to decide if MSBA is actually covered by the Sunshine Law. We think the answer is no, but if a court decides otherwise, we’re anxious to file Sunshine requests with similar groups.

We’re sure they will gladly provide us with internal emails and travel receipts. Oh, and the salaries of all their employees. And they’ll post their board meetings, and open them to the public.

“No attorney general has ever sued a not-for-profit entity for violating the Sunshine Law,” said attorney Chuck Hatfield, who is representing the MSBA. “Not-for-profit entities everywhere should be terrified. This lawsuit is simply inappropriate.”

The merits of the case are equally disturbing. We’ve said before that parents who speak at school board meetings are not terrorists. But we’ve also said threats of violence and disruption at school board meetings are unacceptable and deserve attention.

Does Schmitt support fistfights outside of school board meetings or threatening emails? Is harassment of school board members acceptable behavior? Should volunteer school board members face routine intimidation? His answer appears to be yes.

We know that because Schmitt’s fingerprints are all over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He was vice-chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association when it sent robocalls encouraging a march on the Capitol to protest the legitimate outcome of the 2020 election.

He joined the lawsuit seeking to throw out the presidential votes of every Pennsylvanian.

His office has fiercely resisted efforts to understand his role by fighting disclosure of documents requested under — you guessed it — the Sunshine Law.

Schmitt’s lawsuit against MSBA also bizarrely accuses the group of “hidden involvement” in teaching so-called “critical race theory,” because — gasp — it worked with an outfit that “promote(s) respect and empowerment among students and staff.” Can’t have that, apparently.

Like you, we are tired of Eric Schmitt’s waste of taxpayer dollars pursuing frivolous lawsuits for political reasons. In almost every way, Schmitt is a deplorable public servant, interested only in political advancement, not service.

His ongoing effort to dismantle public education is a disgrace.

A year ago, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas suggested Schmitt face sanctions for his behavior. That remains an option. Missourians should not have to pay for the attorney general’s naked ambition, and someone needs to tell him to stop.

This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.