Are Edina Public Schools Giving Taxpayer Money to the ACLU? [UPDATED]

Everyone in Edina has seen the “All Are Welcome Here” lawn signs that began popping up after the 2016 election. The signs were a response to—and a public repudiation of—Donald Trump’s victory.

“All Are Welcome Here” signs, custom printed in Hornet green and white, are posted around Edina High School and at other Edina public schools. How did they get there? Who paid for them? Where are the profits from their purchase going?

This Instagram post answers the first question. The signs were delivered by All Are Welcome Here, LLC, a start-up formed by several Twin Cities artists in the wake of the election in November 2016.

The Instagram post also begs the question of who paid for the dozens of signs spread throughout the schools. American Experiment is trying to answer that question now.

The minimum online order for lawn signs costs $80 for five signs, $140 for ten signs and $250 for 20 signs, including shipping. Individual placards can be purchased at a handful of stores in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota. It’s not clear how much the smaller signs ordered for use in the Edina schools cost.

But it’s not clear whether the school district used state and local taxpayer dollars to fund the campaign-style signs, which bear the Edina Public Schools logo. The signs also feature the teachers’ union logo–EME–Education Minnesota Edina, raising questions about the powerful union’s role in the campaign.

As for where the profits from purchases end up, ten percent of revenue gets funneled to the American Civil Liberties Union—a highly political organization with an ideologically driven mission. To date, All Are Welcome Here has donated more than $25,000 to the ACLU from total sales in the campaign’s first six months of operations.

The “All Are Welcome Here” website explains:

We believe diversity makes Minnesota and the United States great, and we are committed to taking concrete actions to support our mission and vision. 10% of our profits are donated to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of All.

If the Edina school signs were funded by Minnesota taxpayers, citizens’ money is being used without their knowledge or permission to fund one of the left’s leading special interest groups. As American Experiment’s expose on political indoctrination in Edina public schools shows, the views of students and parents who do not conform with the school district or ACLU, for that matter, are anything but welcome in Edina schools.

UPDATE:  Susan Brott, Communications Director, confirms that the signs were paid for by Edina public schools.

“The All Are Welcome Here signs in Edina schools were produced by the district’s communications department in partnership with the district’s local teachers’ association, Education Minnesota/Edina. The district owns the rights to the design,” Brott said in an email.

This kind of political editorializing with taxpayer funds has no place in the public school system.