Newberg School District debt crisis caps 3 years of controversy [Video]

Since 2020, the district has seen the ascent of a conservative school board majority, the ousting of its superintendent, multiple lawsuits, and the majority’s fall.

NEWBERG, Ore. — For those close to the Newberg School District’s trials and tribulations since 2020, the sudden news that it’s running millions of dollars in the red came as a shock, but perhaps not a surprise. It’s the culmination of unprecedented instability and scrutiny for a relatively small community south of Portland.

Newberg was one of many U.S. districts to see candidates with particularly conservative political platforms turn out in hyper-local nonpartisan elections post-2020. Those candidates won a majority on the school board, and they promptly passed a ban on Black Lives Matter and Pride displays at schools.

Since that decision rested on tenuous legal footing, the board later extended the ban to include anything they deemed a political symbol.

The ban drew a major backlash and a string of protests. The superintendent at the time, Joe Morelock, suggested he would not …