Those races used to be quiet, nonpartisan contests focused on local issues but heated up in 2021 as parents voiced frustration over COVID-19 policies.

Now, these school board elections across the U.S. have become hyper-partisan, framed around culture war fights over how issues like race and sexuality are taught in the classroom.

Here, Newsweek looks at some of the most notable school board elections coming up.

Loudoun County, Virginia

Six candidates are vying for two Loudoun County school board seats this November.

Nick Gothard, Tiffany Polifko and Andrew Hoyler are competing for the seat representing the district of Broad Run, while Lauren Shernoff, Michael Rivera and Erika Ogedegbe are vying for a seat representing Leesburg.

Loudoun County became the center of the nation’s culture wars in 2021 after school board meetings became contentious over the teaching of race, transgender rights policies and COVID-19 mandates. Loudoun County Public Schools also came under fire for its handling of two sexual assaults.

Texas Board of Education

Thirty-three candidates are running to fill all 15 seats of the Texas Board of Education, which dictates what students in the Lone Star State’s 1,200 public school districts will be taught.

Critical race theory (CRT) has been a key issue in the contests, with two Republican incumbents on the state board losing their primaries to candidates pledging to get critical race theory out of classrooms, according to The Texas Tribune.

CRT is a college-level theory that argues that racism and prejudice are embedded within U.S. laws and institutions. Public schools across the nation have said they aren’t teaching it, but CRT has become a catch-all term for critics of policies that promote equity and inclusion.

Sarasota County School Board

Bridget Ziegler, a founding member of Moms for Liberty, a conservative group that advocates for parental rights in schools, is running for reelection on the Sarasota County School Board in Florida.

She has been endorsed by Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who has inserted himself into the debate over school board elections as he seeks to expand his influence while running for reelection. His name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for a 2024 presidential run.

Ziegler’s opponent, Dawnyelle Singleton, told ABC News that misinformation in public schools “continues to spread” and two of the most divisive issues were mask mandates at the height of the pandemic and critical race theory.

“Public schools are under attack,” she said. “Our teachers and administrators are being undermined left and right, and our democracy is at stake.”

Dearborn Public Schools

Six candidates are running for two open seats on the Dearborn Public Schools board in Michigan. They are Ned Apigian, Hussein Berry, Patrick D’Ambrosio, Steve Durant, Angie Hammock-Isaacson and Redhwan Saleh.

Dearborn Public Schools recently made headlines after conservative Muslim parents sought to pressure school officials to ban books with LGBTQ+ themes.

Republicans, who have led efforts across the country to prohibit books with LGBTQ+ content from schools, showed support for the parents.

San Francisco Unified School District

San Francisco residents ousted three progressive members of the city’s school board earlier in 2022 over their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But progressives could be making a comeback as three open seats are up for grabs on November 8.

Three of the candidates—Lainie Motamedi, Lisa Weissman-Ward and Ann Hsu—were appointed to the board by Mayor London Breed after the recall.

Gabriela López, the former board president ousted in the recall, is also running along with Alida Fisher and Karen Fleshman, who both opposed the recall. The trio have been supported by many of the city’s more progressive politicians and groups, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.