澳门跑狗论坛

Moms for Liberty, a rapidly growing right-wing parent group that has pushed for book bans and against equity initiatives in schools nationwide over the last year, is now asking school board candidates to sign a pledge to uphold parental rights if elected.

The group offered training to candidates wanting to run for school board at its first ever summit in July, held about a year after the group was formed. At the same summit, Moms for Liberty invited guests, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and far-right podcaster James Lindsay, who spoke against COVID-19 safety measures and 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� in schools. Critical race theory has often been co-opted by conservatives to describe and demonize equity and inclusion efforts in schools, such as inclusive curricula, classes about African American or Asian American studies, and books on those same subjects.

The group鈥檚 latest initiative is the parent pledge, which has slightly different versions available for candidates running for local school board elections and people wanting to get involved in their districts to sign and share on social media.

鈥淚 pledge to honor the fundamental rights of parents including, but not limited to the right to direct the education, medical care, and moral upbringing of their children,鈥� the pledge for school board candidates reads. 鈥淚 pledge to advance policies that strengthen parental involvement and decisionmaking, increase transparency, defend against government overreach, and secure parental rights at all levels of government.鈥�

Moms for Liberty denied more than a dozen requests since July from 澳门跑狗论坛 for interviews about its school board initiatives, role in book-banning efforts, and most recently, the parent pledge. In a press release accompanying the announcement of the pledge, the group said it will help parents choose whom to vote for in state and local elections across the country. On the website, the group clarifies that signing the pledge does not guarantee an endorsement from Moms for Liberty.

鈥淭he COVID pandemic awakened parents to how shut out they were from the public education establishment. Now, they will never go back to sleep,鈥� cofounders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in a press release.鈥淲e are committed to staying involved in the education of our children in public school, even if this threatens the power of unions who have controlled school boards for decades.鈥�

鈥楶arental rights鈥� is a political tactic, experts say

For many months, conservative groups have used the parental rights argument to push for book bans and for curriculum transparency bills, where districts have to post their curriculum online for parent approval. They鈥檝e also used the same reasoning for supporting district- and state-level policies restricting the freedom of transgender and gender-nonconforming students to change pronouns in favor of mandating parental approval for students to change pronouns or seek gender-affirming counseling in schools. Florida鈥檚 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay鈥� bill (called that by opponents of the bill), which bans education about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, is officially termed the 鈥淧arental Rights in Education鈥� bill.

At the Moms for Liberty summit, Desantis鈥� wife, Casey DeSantis, promoted her husband鈥檚 endorsement for school board candidates as a name recognition tool, and not a political affiliation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not about [politics], it鈥檚 about principle, getting involved and helping good people get to a point where they can have leadership skills,鈥� the governor鈥檚 wife said. 鈥淚 think parents were peering into the classroom during COVID. And they saw a lot of this stuff. And they said, you know, this isn鈥檛 gonna fly on my watch. But for the first time, you see people say, I鈥檓 going to do something about this.鈥�

Some Republican politicians鈥攎ost notably Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin鈥攈ave run successful campaigns by being able to mobilize suburban voters to advocate for parental rights, according to Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and professor of political science at Columbia.

Now, the fight seems to be seeping into school board elections, which generally attract low voter turnout and are, in most states, supposed to be nonpartisan.

鈥淭his framing in terms of parental rights was something that seemed to catch fire and and particularly seemed to attract some suburban voters who had drifted a little bit away from Republicans because of their unhappiness with elements of the Trump agenda,鈥� Henig said.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing now,鈥� he added, 鈥渋s the increased role of national party and ideological forces that are feeding off of these local concerns and trying to turn them into issues that will mobilize their base and swing certain voters.鈥�

Groups such as Moms for Liberty are making a tactical argument for parental rights based both on legitimate concern in local communities about how schools handled COVID and on how they handle topics some deem controversial, such as race and racism and LGBTQ issues, Henig said. But the national involvement and funding funneled through groups such as Moms for Liberty impacting local school board races is new, Henig said.

鈥淒emocrats are starting to see that this issue may actually end up being valuable to them,鈥� he continued, 鈥渂ecause they can use this to [their advantage] that some of these groups are extreme, and they鈥檙e pursuing an extremist agenda.鈥�

Which side this political tussle might eventually favor is up in the air, Henig said, but while it unfolds, students鈥攅specially students of color and LGBTQ students鈥攁re at risk of losing access to education about important issues because of book bans and legislative censorship on teaching of important societal and historical events, experts have said.

Democratic parent groups have also geared up

Katie Paris, the founder of the Democratic parents group Red Wine and Blue, has been involved in counteracting the impacts of groups such as Moms for Liberty on local school boards since last year. She said that, in her experience, the majority of parents don鈥檛 support making any students feel they are being excluded or rejected through anti-LGBTQ legislation orcensorship on conversations about race or book bans.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 see this as parents versus parents,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 see this as parents versus outside groups that are attempting to scare some parents in order to maintain or gain political power.鈥�

鈥淸Parental rights] is a nice-sounding phrase that is being used, unfortunately, to advance a political ideology,鈥� Paris added.

Her organization offers 鈥渢roublemaker trainings鈥� for parents that explain how to fight against requests to ban books and the conservative agendas parents might bring to school boards. Most recently, her group has launched a search tool where voters can put in their address and see which school board candidates up for election this year 鈥渟upport accurate and honest education.鈥�

The search tool includes overviews of candidates running for school board in four states where Red Wine and Blue is staffed: Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of language that鈥檚 being used to mask some pretty extremist views,鈥� Paris said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e just trying to help these mainstream parents out with a resource that they can go to and understand for real where these candidates actually stand.鈥�

Red Wine and Blue also partners with organizations that train candidates to run for school board, much like Moms for Liberty.

Paris also wants to encourage parents to continue to show up at meetings and stay involved to counter groups like Moms for Liberty.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a reality check on the whole situation,鈥� she said, 鈥渢he temperature comes down and it gives the school board the confidence to move on about their business.鈥�