A familiar set of questions landed in the email inboxes and mailboxes of certain school board candidates in San Luis Obispo County ahead of the November election.
Much like they did during the 2024 election cycle, candidates running for the Lucia Mar and San Luis Coastal school district boards received questionnaires from a church and a “local non-partisan committee.”
“Equippers Church Central Coast has designed the following questionnaire to help our members (who live in all areas of San Luis Obispo County) understand your position on a few key issues that concern the electorate as a whole,” the church’s 2026 SLO County School Board Candidate Questionnaire said. “While it is uncertain whether you will face any or all of these issues in office, it is possible that related issues will come up and your answers to these questions will permit voters to better understand your general views.”
The Arroyo Grande church’s questions were similar to the ones it asked in 2024, focusing on issues like book bans and the presence of transgender students in gendered sports categories and locker rooms.
Candidates could choose from three options—support, oppose, no response—as answers to 12 questions from the church. Some of the questions asked for their views on California’s prohibition on using religious reasons to skip required vaccines for students and the definition of life as the beginning at conception.
Equippers isn’t the only religious institution that’s involved itself in local elections. In 2024, Calvary Chapel Paso Robles sent political questionnaires to Atascadero Unified School District and Paso Robles Joint Unified School District candidates, asking for their stances on student gender identity and abortion.
That year, Harvest Church and Pulse of the Central Coast—affiliated with Grace Bible Church in Arroyo Grande—also distributed surveys to Lucia Mar candidates.
For the upcoming election, candidates had until Sept. 19 to respond to Equippers’ survey.
San Luis Coastal Trustee Area 2 candidate Michael Glavan said he chose not to complete or return Equippers’ questionnaire.
“I respect the organization’s right to ask candidates where they stand, but I didn’t feel the framing or the support/oppose format of several of the questions aligned with how I approach the role of a school board trustee or allowed for the nuance these issues deserve,” he said. “Rather than provide answers that could misrepresent my views, I decided not to participate.”
Glavan’s opponent, Marissa Gomez, didn’t respond to New Times.
San Luis Coastal Trustee Area 1 incumbent Marilyn Rodger said she didn’t receive the church’s questionnaire. Her challenger, Morro Bay resident Betty Winholtz, did.
Winholtz said she wasn’t sure what the questionnaire was “aimed at” and didn’t believe it was relevant to San Luis Coastal. She said she would welcome questions from voters at the League of Women Voters’ candidate forum on Oct. 14 at the Los Osos Middle School library from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
According to Lucia Mar board incumbent Colleen Martin, another survey is also making the rounds.
Both Martin and her husband—Arroyo Grande Planning Commissioner Glenn Martin, who’s running for mayor—received Equippers’ questionnaires, and she also was emailed a second set of questions from a group called People for Better Schools. Martin didn’t respond to the questions.
In the email obtained by New Times, People for Better Schools described itself as a local committee, “non-partisan public interest group,” formed to work with the Lucia Mar school board.
“We advocate for academic excellence, fiscal responsibility, empowering teachers, and respecting both parents and students,” the email said.
Candidates could select “Yes,” “No,” or “Unsure” to 10 questions that included “Do you believe that……literary, artistic, political, or scientific value is enough to justify giving minors access to a book containing graphic sexual depictions or descriptions in an LMUSD school library?”
Lucia Mar Trustee Area 3 candidate Anna Cordero said Equippers’ questionnaire was the second one she received but didn’t confirm the author of the first survey or whether she responded.
Trustee Area 6 candidate David Warren told New Times he hadn’t received the church’s questionnaire.
Paul Bischoff of Coastal California Construction Company, who now handles the campaigns of Lucia Mar candidates Julie Tizzano, Eilene Pham, Traci Bognuda, and Sarah Moreland, told New Times he’s “nearly certain” they received the Equippers questionnaire. He said he doesn’t know if they returned the survey with responses or of other questionnaires they received.
Neither the remaining Lucia Mar candidates, Equippers, nor People for Better Schools responded to New Times’ request for comment.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2026.
