Tea Partiers Playing a Role in Some School Board Races

John Tedesco is one of four conservative-leaning candidates elected to the Wake County, N.C., school board in 2009. The new members led in the dismantling of an integration policy based on socioeconomic factors.

—Corey Lowenstein/The News & Observer/AP-File

The winds that swept conservatives into federal and state office are figuring in 'downticket' contests

By Christina A. Samuels

Beth Roberts, a co-founder of the tea party group York 912 Patriots in York, Pa., said her organization’s guiding principles are to educate, organize, and campaign and that means keeping an eye not just on national elections, but on so-called “downticket” races, including for the local school boards.

“I can’t control what’s going on in Egypt and Libya,” said Ms. Roberts, a former elementary teacher who is now certified as a substitute. “But I can control what’s going on in Dover Township,” her home town.

Though difficult to quantify, the same forces that swept conservative candidates into office on the congressional and state levels appear to be working their way down...