The appearance of Moms for Liberty in Clark County is bringing new attention to otherwise low-profile school board races. Tuesday’s primary will be a test of whether the group can translate the waves it makes in school board meeting public comment periods into real political power. It’s the latest example of partisan views entering nonpartisan school board races in Nevada, but it’s by no means the first. Experts say schools have long been a battleground for social issues, from evolution and sex education to desegregation. Political division in K-12 education spaces is nothing new, said University of Southern California education policy professor Julie Marsh. Past hot button K-12 education issues have included debates on the teaching of evolution and sex education. In the 1950s, school desegregation during the civil rights movement drew angry mobs of white community members attempting to prevent Black students from integrating in previously all-white schools. Marsh said this latest wave of partisanship in school board elections mirrors the polarization at the national level that grew as Trump rose to power, and took further root during the pandemic. In recent years, Marsh has seen political figures such as Republican governors DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who’s also allied with Moms for Liberty, use school culture war issues to energize their base. Marsh and other experts say that groups such as Moms for Liberty and politicians aligned with them have used parents’ frustrations about mask mandates and school closure as part of their effort to erode support for public schools and promote school vouchers, which direct state funds that would otherwise go to public schools to private schools.  “That might be the ultimate goal — you do this fear mongering to drive parents out of public schools and build support for some of these other policies,” Marsh said.