Overview:

Welcome to the FFRF Action Fund’s School Board Candidate Questionnaire page!  (Note: the questionnaire is at the bottom of this page)

By participating in this questionnaire, you have the opportunity to connect with and represent a significant and growing demographic—the non-religious population, which now comprises roughly a third of Americans. Furthermore, FFRF Action Fund has more than 40,000 advocates across the United States, many of whom donate regularly to and get involved with political candidates. . 

Completing this questionnaire demonstrates your commitment to upholding secular values in our public schools and provides clear communication of your policy positions to a substantial and engaged part of the electorate. We’re looking forward to working with you to foster the right to access a quality, secular education for all students. 

Mandatory criteria for endorsement:

The candidate has:

• Demonstrated a tangible and viable path to victory
• A strong commitment to secular public education and the separation of state and church

Other helpful criteria:

The candidate:

• Is a freethinker (i.e., not religious, atheist, humanist, agnostic, etc.)
• Completed a candidate training program 
• Is a member of a School Board PAC or slate (endorsement would go to the specific candidate and not the slate)
• Has been engaging in the schools and school board
• Has been endorsed by local leaders and/or national or local organizations
• A race falls into a high priority area:
  • Has an opponent who is a Christian nationalist or Christian nationalists have targeted the race
  • US senate, house or state senate or house competitive electoral target 
  • School district has a history of state/church violations

Notes on the endorsement process and procedure:

• Prospective candidates will be asked about all of the above information in the candidate questionnaire
• Endorsements are made on a rolling basis and are decided monthly by FFRF AF Board of Directors
• FFRF AF generally avoids endorsing in higher-profile contentious primaries
• The endorsement process takes approximately 1 month to complete
• Endorsements will not be made more than 18 months before the first election date
• After the candidate has submitted their questionnaire, they will be sent an email if they will be moving forward with the endorsement process based on the above criteria.
• Then:
  • We will schedule with the candidate an interview to review the information in the questionnaire;
  • FFRF AF will then check the references of the candidate;
  • FFRF AF will recommend to the FFRF AF Board to endorse the candidate
  • Candidate is then notified of the decision and can publicize the endorsement however they see fit.