From Oceanside to Cajon Valley to Chula Vista, school board candidates across San Diego County are making the fight for and against what’s been described as “parental rights” part of their platforms. The loose term has evolved since it gained ground nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote learning provided parents with further insight into what their kids were learning and disagreement about mandated masks and vaccines ignited. While frustrations over pandemic policies have cooled down locally, debate over what schools teach students about race, gender and sexual orientation have flared up. Parents and school officials have been at odds over student privacy policies, especially those that exclude parents. That tension is driving the recent parental rights effort, a “vague term” that could broaden its appeal, said Julie Marsh, an education policy professor at the University of Southern California and faculty director at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) at Stanford Graduate School of Education. “It’s intentionally vague as a political strategy, because I think in its ambiguity it can attract a lot of support and could be seen as a nonpartisan issue,” Marsh said.