THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060460
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TAVARES, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Voters have taken away the conservative Christian Coalition's control of the Lake County School Board, spelling the end of a policy under which the schools were told to teach that American culture is second to none.
After weeks of hot debate on the ``America First'' policy, voters in Lake County's Republican runoff on Tuesday cast ballots against three Christian Coalition candidates for board vacancies by 2-to-1 margins.
Voter turnout in the central Florida county was 28 percent, compared with 13 percent statewide.
The remaining six candidates for the three contested seats, three Republicans and three Democrats, indicated they would repeal the controversial edict adopted by a conservative 3-2 majority last May. The candidates will vie in the Nov. 8 general election.
Two Christian Coalition board members are in midterm. Outgoing board Chairwoman Pat Hart, who wrote the cultural policy, is ending her four-year term and decided not to seek re-election. That leaves the two incumbents facing a new moderate majority.
Hart, a Christian Coalition member, said the election results were no surprise. ``We have endured over two years of constant anti-Christian bashing by the liberal media, truckloads of teachers' union money and efforts by administrators and teachers against us,'' Hart said Wednesday.
The runoff was viewed as a bellwether in other election battles between moderates and conservatives supported by the Christian Coalition, which is based in Chesapeake and was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.
The ``America First'' policy requires teachers to emphasize to their students that American culture is superior to all others. A 1991 Florida law requires schools to teach about all cultures without promoting ethnocentrism.
``The sun will rise again on the Lake County school system,'' School Superintendent Tom Sanders said.
The conservatives also advocated teaching creationism and Christian values, abstinence-only sex education and reduced taxes in the county's 38 schools, used by just over 22,000 students.
The teachers' union had sued the Hart-led School Board for adopting the ``America First'' policy. Gail Burry, president of the Lake County Education Association, said the suit would be dropped if the new board rescinds the policy.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION CHRISTIAN COALITION CANDIDATES AMERICA FIRST
EDUCATION SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS by CNB