The California Teachers Association (CTA) allegedly held a weekend retreat in April to discuss what to do about a Riverside County pastor who is raising money for a political action committee that will bankroll the campaigns of conservative school board candidates.
412 Church Pastor Tim Thompson launched the Inland Empire Family PAC earlier this year and has been holding fundraisers ever since to reach a financial goal of $250,000.
412 is a reference to Acts 4:12, Hebrews 4:12, and Ephesians 4:12 in the Bible.
“They actually had people up there in Sacramento for this three-day seminar saying they need to stop me because of what they call my radical agenda for this state,” Thompson told the Southern California Record.
Thompson is cultivating Christian candidates for election to the Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, and Menifee school boards in an effort to improve the education California students receive. The candidates are generally parents who submitted a written application in order to become school board candidates.
“My agenda is threefold,” he said. “First, parents are the ultimate authority in their child's life and I don't want grown adults speaking to children about their sexual desires. That's a conversation for the dinner table. The third is I want children to be judged based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Those are the three issues of PAC and they're saying that's radical.”
Neither CTA President E. Toby Boyd nor CTA Vice President David Goldberg nor CTA Executive Director Joe Boyd responded to requests for comment.
Thompson claims a teacher who had been invited to the retreat called to inform him about the event.
“They had my picture up on a screen and they were telling people they need to fight against me,” he said. “Many of these union teachers from my local area came back and were going from school to school having union meetings and asking teachers if they would agree to allow their funds to go against fighting what I'm doing.”
Conservative school board candidates have been gaining momentum among concerned parents, according to Thompson. Although the election is not until November, Thompson has already begun promoting the Inland Empire Family PAC candidates.
“At just one event we raised more than a hundred thousand dollars,” he added. “We’ve been having private meetings with potential donors. Parents are awake to what's happening. They want to see change.”