DAVIS, Calif. — Beth Bourne, a longtime and controversial figure in Davis school politics, has pulled nomination papers to run for the Davis Joint Unified School District Board of Education in Trustee Area 4, setting up what could become one of the most closely watched local races on the November ballot.
Candidate filing for the Nov. 3, 2026, election opened Monday and runs through Aug. 7. According to the Yolo County Elections Office, Bourne took out nomination papers on July 13 to challenge Area 4 Trustee Elizabeth Moon, whose current four-year term expires in December. As of Tuesday, Moon had not filed nomination papers and has not publicly announced whether she intends to seek reelection.
Bourne’s candidacy follows several years of highly public disputes with DJUSD over the district’s policies involving LGBTQ+ students, parental rights and campus access. She emerged as one of the leading local opponents of the district’s gender identity policies and became a prominent voice in statewide conservative education debates.
Most recently, Bourne was featured in a June 30 New York Post article about California’s new requirement that public schools provide at least one all-gender restroom by July 1. In that article, she criticized the law and argued it would negatively affect students who object to sharing facilities with transgender classmates.
Her decision to seek elected office also comes just weeks after the district formally notified her that she was no longer permitted on district property except as authorized.
In a June 12 letter, district officials wrote: “As you no longer have a student attending DJUSD schools, you do not have a legitimate reason to be on District property or to attend District events. The District will be pursuing all legal remedies available to prevent such behavior, including criminal prosecution.”
The letter represents the latest development in a contentious relationship between Bourne and the district that dates back several years.
In 2023, DJUSD sought a workplace violence restraining order against Bourne after district officials raised concerns over social media posts they believed targeted employees. The district later voluntarily dismissed its request for a permanent injunction, while Bourne maintained she had been exercising her First Amendment rights.
Bourne has also served as a local leader of Moms for Liberty and has regularly organized opposition to district policies concerning transgender students, curriculum and school governance. Her activism has made her one of the most recognizable figures in Davis education politics and a frequent participant at board meetings over the past several years.
If she qualifies for the ballot, the race would likely provide voters with a stark philosophical contrast.
Moon, first elected in 2022 as the inaugural trustee representing Area 4 following the district’s transition to by-trustee elections, has generally supported the board’s current direction on issues including student inclusion, technology policy and district governance. She currently serves on the five-member board alongside President Hiram Jackson, Vice President Lea Darrah, Trustee Joe DiNunzio and Trustee Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald.
The opening of candidate filing also produced activity in Trustee Area 1.
Dorte Jensen pulled nomination papers Monday to seek the Area 1 seat currently held by Board President Hiram Jackson. Jensen has been aligned politically with Bourne on several district issues and has appeared alongside her during recent school policy debates.
Jackson has previously indicated he does not intend to seek reelection, leaving the Area 1 contest open. Colleen Zern has already filed nomination papers and a declaration of candidacy for the seat, making Area 1 the first contested race to emerge during the opening days of filing.
In Trustee Area 3, incumbent Joe DiNunzio has both pulled nomination papers and filed his declaration of candidacy, making him the only current board member to formally enter the race so far. As of Tuesday, no challenger had filed for that seat.
Three of the board’s five trustee areas — Areas 1, 3 and 4 — will appear on the November ballot.
The filing period remains open through Aug. 7. If an incumbent eligible for reelection does not file by that deadline, the filing period for that office will be extended for non-incumbent candidates under California election law.
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Jensen will lose.
. . . I note that you did not say Bourne would lose.
Jensen has a well qualified opponent who has announced her candidacy. According to this article no one else has yet filed for the same seat as Bourne so counting her out at this stage would be pre-mature.
“As you no longer have a student attending DJUSD schools, you do not have a legitimate reason to be on District property or to attend District events. The District will be pursuing all legal remedies available to prevent such behavior, including criminal prosecution.”
Something tells me that won’t last and gets overturned.
It’s an interesting question. An adult cannot just walk onto a school campus during instructional hours – that’s a safety issue regardless of who it is. It appears under the law, the district is well within its rights and duties to restrict access during school hours. How far that goes is probably a more open question. If it’s an after-school event open to the general public, they probably have much less discretion. Given the amount of disruption that has taken place during school hours, I think the district is well within its discretion to at least test where those boundaries are.
As a parent I cant even just waltz onto my kids campus without visiting the office and getting a pass…
Exactly
Pretty sure that some campus grounds are open to the public after school hours, regardless of whether or not there’s an “event”.
If I’m not mistaken, some campus grounds in Davis aren’t even fenced in.
(Edited)
What is odd is not that people cannot ‘waltz’ onto school campus. What is odd is sending out a warning notice in advance of a crime or violation having been committed.
Are you unaware of the history that led up to this?
I don’t mean BB’s past behavior. If that has been illegal I’m sure that is being taken care of. I mean the notice is written for things that haven’t occurred.
Thanks for clarifying
I suspect that (like any other elected position), the majority of one’s time is spent on mundane/routine matters where there isn’t much controversy, etc. The type of thing where you only need some basic competence and willingness to work.
But then there’s that 10% or so of the rest of the time – the more “interesting” aspect of the job so to speak.
Can’t help but think of Sue Greenwald’s tenure, when she was surrounded by growth monkeys on the council. There were times, however, where it seemed like she was kind of wasting time/energy on a council that wasn’t inclined to consider her point of view.
Per an article in the Enterprise, Elizabeth Moon is running for re-election.
Elizabeth Moon has been a political non-entity while serving. I can’t think of one issue where I would have any idea about her position in or out of DJUSD. That said, I am a District 4 voter, retired with no kids in the schools so I don’t pay super close attention; but, I also read the Enterprise coverage of DJUSD and try to stay current. I believe she ran unopposed last time which says a lot about how controversial school board issues are for my neighbors. She generally seems to like flying under the radar sort of like Mike Thompson. One good thing about Bourne running against Moon (if that is correct) we will get quality census data on how many of our voters in District 4 are certified MAGA looney tunes.
I must correct my own post…too late to delete and re-edit, but I am not in District 4. I’m in District 2. And curiously, my comments above do not require any editing changes except for the District number “2” and name, “Lea Darrah”. Nothing personal against either of these people, but they really are unknown, if benign, entities to me.
I’ve learned that school board members are anything but “benign” in regard to the larger impact they can have on a community.
(Not referring to the LGBTQ+ issue, nor am I referring exclusively to development issues.)
In some ways, I now think they’re more dangerous to a community than council members can be. (But part of the reason for that is because the same type of people, with similar goals – often occupy council seats – and therefore don’t even see a difference between school district interests vs. city interests). They are not necessarily the same thing.
I don’t know if Boardmember Wood has filed or not, but she has said she’s going to rerun. Thank goodness.
Go listen to Ms Bourne, and then join me in voting for Ms Wood.
Your post made me scramble to look at my own district and helped me make an edit, but there is no “Wood” on the current DJUSD Board. Maybe you mean “Moon”?
I would love to see Beth on the school board.
It would be fun to see the other board members squirm every time she talks.
Imagine the entertainment, Beth sitting next to Vice President Lea Darrah or Trustee Joe DiNunzio.
Vote for Beth.
Disruption and chaos on our school board as a spectator sport? Your idea for political choices adds no value to the community. Fortunately, she has no chance of winning a spot. As I said before, the benefit of her running is to show how much support exists in Davis for chaos and pointless disruption from the right side of the spectrum. I am interested in the magnitude of that number.
The chaos of watching Beth call out the other board members for some of their policies would be great entertainment and who knows maybe Beth will get a few of them to see the light.
Unless your is educating our kids rather than political theater