Opinion: Christian Nationalism on the School Board

At the most recent school board’s budget hearing for SY2026, after the district’s presentation of the budget, Katie Allen (District 4 Representative) introduced a new document to the board with district staff. This document used information pulled from audited statements from the previous 5 years. However, since it was just added at this meeting, it created a couple of problems. First, it wasn’t visible to the rest of the audience so only one member of the public could adequately follow the discussion, since based on her public comments, she had obviously coordinated with Katie Allen ahead of time. This makes sense considering Janet Duggan worked on Katie Allen’s campaign and they are both part of the same group who have been attacking the school district and our public library for the past few years. The other issue with this tactic is that the other board members and district staff didn’t have a chance to fully analyze the document for accuracy and content ahead of the meeting. This document was then used in part of the discussion to question all sorts of things and at one point, even accuse the district of treating the General Fund as a “slush fund.” I take any sorts of attacks or so-called “concerns” Katie Allen, Janet Duggan, etc have with a huge grain of salt due to their continued attacks on the school district and the public library over the past few years, as part of a larger national concerted effort by religious extremists to destroy public institutions in the United States. Janet Duggan even ended her 11 minute rant with a rude attack on Judy Teasley.

First, I want to say that I have asked Mr.Casado various questions over the past year and he has always been patient and transparent with me. I have heard different grumblings throughout the community that maybe the district hides money in different places or this kind of thing, which is a common rumor everywhere I’ve lived. However, I really think this kind of gossip is unfounded because Mr.Casado is a straight-shooter. He gives the numbers and points you in the right direction if you are misinterpreting numbers or data. This is a large complicated budget. I made it a good chunk of the way through a graduate accounting program before I decided to not pursue it further and I still get confused. I really don’t think Mr.Casado is trying to hoodwink anybody, which at the end of the day, is the insinuation with the type of rhetoric we were seeing at this meeting.

It is true that the General Fund has grown over the past 5 years and that the district has taken in more revenue than expenditures. Let’s remember though that the district is just recovering from some truly insane years with Covid and the aftermath. When the district passes the budget in May for the next school year, they can’t predict what the State is going to do with revenue when the legislature is in session 8 months later. During these years, the State would hold back funds sometimes and then give funds later in the year if there was surplus. There’s no way to predict those funds though. Also, the district was dealing with inflationary pressures that were greater than standard measures of inflation. The costs of the building program exploded by 40%. Next year, the district is planning on spending down some of the General Fund for some of the improvements. However, I’m pretty sure there will be some crazy stuff coming down the pipeline next year. There are reports of reduced cargo in docks on the West Coast due to tariffs and discussions of removing/reducing funding for the Free/Reduced lunch program (which Columbia County receives $17 million in Federal funds for the program removed.) It might be prudent to have a bit of padding in the General Fund in these uncertain times.

Personally, I know that showing low spending per pupil looks great for the conservatives in our county, but I’ll never think that’s a great thing. The fact that our spending per pupil is so low and our test scores are holding their own, must make it incredibly frustrating for district staff to endure these repeated attacks regarding the budget. I’ve looked at some data that would suggest if we actually want to increase test scores above where they are, we need to significantly increase spending on student supports. I would advocate for that anyway because it’s better for students and teachers. We’ve asked our teachers to shoulder the bulk of the burden in a drive to improve test scores, without necessarily increasing support. However, I understand that the political climate we’re in right now makes that a dicey proposition. Don’t get me started on the shortage of paraprofessionals. *sigh*

Now, that’s not to say that the board’s decisions on certain things are beyond reproach. Certainly not. Many still scratch their heads about the $900,000 upgrade to marble floors for 2 new elementary schools. I wasn’t privy to that discussion and I’m sure there was some sort of logical justification, but sometimes I think the board (and the district) needs to look at the optics of some of the decisions that they make. This small group has shown time and time again that they are looking for any and all opportunities to attack the district (and public library) in whatever way shape or form they can. Any small misstep that can be perceived in a certain way will surely be used as an attack. They love to use any sort of negative public perception to try and get the rest of the public riled up, even if it’s not 100% factual.

In attending both HB581 meetings at both the district and county commissioners, and having a bit more context than many in the public since I’ve been attending both meetings for a while, I saw how (in my opinion) this group pitted the public against the school district while holding up the commissioners. It was an interesting and effective political tactic. It’s important to note that both boards made the same exact decision. Sadly, I believe many of our commissioners are also politically aligned with this group as we’ve seen they seem, in my opinion, happy to destroy the public library and violate people’s First Amendment Rights. None of the commissioners really took up for the school district at the meetings when the rhetoric of public speakers started to shift to one where it was OK for the commissioners to opt-out but that dastardly school district…. It seemed to me that the commissioners were more than happy to throw the school district under the bus to make themselves look better in that moment, although once again, both boards made the same decision.

I also want to dive into a little bit of history to give more context to this current situation. In 2021, Katie Allen’s daughter read the book Drama by Raina Telgemeier in her middle school classroom. She began complaining about this at school board meetings, alleging that the content in the books was obscene or sexually explicit. Drama is a story about 8th Graders that put on a play. Some characters are gay and there is one scene where 2 boys (one is dressed as a female character) kiss on stage. It has a 5/5 popularity rating through PINES and I think there’s 5-7 copies at the public library. This small group are the only ones complaining about this book. She met up with other “concerned citizens” that all happened to be very active in the Columbia County Republican Party. During the 2022 election cycle, two candidates who had hopped on the book banning/CRT right-wing extreme bandwagon ran for school board in Districts 2 and 3. Janet Duggan’s husband ran for District 2 against Kristi Baker and lost. Ashley Lee ran for District 3 against Judy Teasley and also lost. It seems like this extremist agenda really isn’t that popular in Columbia County. So, for 2024, although Katie Allen had seemingly been attacking the school district for years and even sued the district, she took a small hiatus and then showed back up completely reinventing herself. She didn’t mention book banning on the campaign trail at all and her campaign even blocked me on Facebook for simply asking “.... isn’t this the book ban lady that sued the district?” All of her antics are well documented in the media. All one has to do is a Google search and everything is there. If anybody has video footage of her antics at school board meetings and elsewhere though, feel free to send it my way. At the end of the day though, her tactic worked. She won by 142 votes, with 8.35% turnout in District 4.

Her rhetoric really didn’t stop though if you know where to look. In February 2024, Katie Allen attended a Legislative Day at the Gold Dome in Atlanta with Georgians For Responsible Libraries. I mentioned that organization in this opinion piece about the new Library Chair’s political activism. Here is the transcription of her remarks (08:24-13:08 here):

Good Morning. Good Morning. My name is Katie Allen. I’m a mother from Columbia County, Georgia who has experienced first-hand the frustration of having a child read books with sexual content at school and having my school leaders dismiss my concerns simply because the current laws did not hold them accountable. First of all, I want to thank Georgians For Responsible Libraries and all the individuals who worked tirelessly to introduce SB 154. It’s an amazing opportunity to strengthen a law meant to keep our children safe at school. As grateful as I am to see this bill, I have to wonder, how did we get here? How did we get to the point that the accepted status quo is to have obscene books available to our children at school. I believe the answer is 3-Fold.

First, I believe we have lost sight of our nation’s history. We expelled God from our government and morality has declined ever since. This was never the intent of this nation and we were warned of this long ago. In his farewell address, George Washington reminded his new nation that “...of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” I believe we have arrived at this place in history because we have long forgotten the warnings of our founding fathers. Remove God from this nation and morality will inevitably decay. I believe we have arrived at this place in history because we have long forgotten the warnings the warnings of our founding fathers.

Secondly, we are here because many have not recognized the narrative surrounding this issue, which usually comes in the form of censorship accusations, as we’ve seen. Again, we’ve lost sight of our nation’s history otherwise we would know that historically there were many restrictions placed on free speech to ensure that a moral and decent society prevailed. Obscenity specifically was viewed as a crime against public decency and was not protected in the early judicial rulings of this nation. For example, in the Common Wealth v Sharpless of 1815 it was held that individuals do not have the right to show obscene images to the public. This case specifically says that “the destruction of morality renders the power of the government invalid. No man is permitted to corrupt the morals of the people.” This idea that there’s a First Amendment Right to give children obscene materials is utterly false and grounded in a misconstrued interpretation of the constitution. Let’s recognize the narrative then so that we may begin to rise above it.

Additionally, we need to understand that it is not by chance that obscene materials have entered our schools. It is a product of activism from an evolved form of Marxism known as Queer Theory. We need to understand that where traditional Marxism sought to create equity by removing economic classes, Queer Theory seeks to create equity by removing sexual distinctions in classes. It seeks to create a world, “minor attracted people, which were at the bottom of the sexual power pyramid become equal with the monogamous heterosexual relationship that forms the foundation of the American family.” we must recognize that this is not an accident that these obscene books are in our libraries. It’s a targeted effort to change the way our children view sexuality in general, as well as the traditional family that formed the foundation of this country.

Finally, we are here because we have lost a sense of accountability. We must be reminded that we are accountable for every child who reads these obscene books, many of whom are already sexually traumatized and find themselves reliving their experiences through reading this material. We are accountable to our own children for allowing an environment to exist around them which we knew was harmful and dangerous. And ultimately we are accountable to God for actions we took to protect children as well as for the actions we chose not to take. Lawmakers of Georgia, as you go to vote on SB 154, I ask that you remember these things. Know your history. Know the narrative and know that you are accountable for your vote. I pray that God will work in all of your hearts to protect the children of Georgia and bring decency and morality back into our public schools. Thank you.

Oh goodness, I don’t know where to begin with everything that is wrong in that little speech. I don’t think she said any of that in Columbia County during her campaign. Anyway, SB154 morphed into SB74 at the 2025 legislative session. Yes, the same SB74 that will criminalize librarians, including school librarians if they don’t remove what Katie Allen considers “obscene”, which she has demonstrated is the book Drama. She also signed this petition a couple months ago in support of SB74. As a sworn-in representative of the school board, she wants to put our public school librarians in jail if they don’t censor materials she personally doesn’t like. Let that sink in.

I always find it interesting how many people that embrace Christian Nationalism aren’t necessarily squeaky clean themselves. Wagging their tongues about enforcing morality on the rest of the population when, in their own lives, their own ideology would find fault. In this instance, Katie Allen or should I say… Katie Lang Middleton McMillen Allen is in her 3rd marriage embracing a fundamentalist Christian political movement that would remove no-fault divorce. She talks about the “traditional family” as if she hasn’t been divorced twice. Sounds like more hypocrisy to me.

Finally, one last little pet peeve I always have with many of these ladies’ speeches, and we heard it again with Janet Duggan, is that they always talk like they represent the public with phrases like “the public is tired of xyz….” They always say that at school board meetings, commissioners meetings, library meetings, testifying at committee meetings at the Gold Dome in Atlanta…. Who is this public they think they are representing? They don’t mention that they are the Chair or representative of an organization so they aren’t officially speaking on behalf of any group. They are speaking on behalf of themselves. They sure as hell are not speaking on behalf of me. So, I really find their constant wording that they somehow represent the “public” really offensive. Quite frankly, to the real public out there, if you don’t show up to these meetings, these folks are claiming to speak on your behalf. If you don’t agree with them, it might be time to pay attention to the local politics in the area, so you can speak for yourself. Also, please VOTE in our local elections and not just national elections, before they turn our public schools and libraries in the County into dystopian places only pushing a very narrow Christian Nationalist viewpoint.