Three months after Republicans scored major election upsets in Virginia and New Jersey, largely because of the frustration parents felt with Democratic officials who catered to teachers’ unions and culture warriors at the expense of children, voters in San Francisco recalled three school board members by margins of nearly three to one. Coming from America’s most liberal city, those results should translate into a 7 to 8 on the Richter scale, because the three main factors that drove the recall are not unique to the Bay Area.

First, the school board members failed to show any urgency in reopening schools even when it was clear that doing so was safe — and that remote classes were leaving students further and further behind. As private schools opened, public schools remained closed. Tragically, that failure will do lasting damage to many students and their career prospects, especially those from low-income communities. Data show that these students have fallen much further behind their peers — often losing a half year’s worth of schooling. Nothing has widened social achievement gaps more than poorly conceived remote instruction. Parents know this, and Democratic elected officials need to show them that they know it, too.

Second, the school board members seemed more concerned with political correctness than educating children. Instead of reopening schools, they spent their time renaming them, stripping off the names of historic figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln before a public outcry forced them to reverse course. Meanwhile, parents struggled to keep their heads above water as they tried to manage having their children at home. The city’s Democratic mayor, London Breed, rightly criticized the board for having it