When my school district was forcing children to attend LGBTQ storybook lessons, I banded together with like-minded moms, and we sued the school district. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
And we won.
Last week’s Supreme Court ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor has been championed by every common-sense American who, like the Justices in their 6-3 majority opinion, understands that a massive government overreach had violated the religious liberties of families in Montgomery County Public Schools.
The parent plaintiffs, including myself, simply wanted to be able to receive notice and have the ability to opt our children out of the “LGBTQ inclusive” teachings in English class that conflict with our religious beliefs, and we were vindicated. Through the court proceedings, the entire country witnessed the spectacle that had become the one-sided, celebratory introduction of sensitive topics into the education of our young ones.
But how did we arrive at a place where the nation’s high court needed to weigh in on whether our four-year-olds should be required to read about lace, leather, underwear, and drag queens under the guise of “inclusion”? The answer is simple: an erosion of parental rights, contempt for religious beliefs, and a leftist agenda aiming to redefine childhood education into “what to think,” not “how to think”.
Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion, while addressing the larger legal issues, also highlighted the importance of parent advocacy and involvement at the most local level of government to help course correct the significant declines in public education. Whether he was aware of it or not, the public school board testimony he included was that of the then-chair of the Moms for Liberty Montgomery County Chapter.
“Some parents showed up at the Board’s public business meetings to express their concerns about the storybooks’ content,” Alito wrote. “In an early 2023 meeting, for example, one parent represented herself as ‘a voice for parents in [her] community, many of [whom] are actually working today and unable to attend.”
“She said that MCPS parents were ‘frustrated’ because, in their view, ‘educators and administrators are going behind what [parents] are teaching their kids at home, and pushing ideas of gender ideology on their kids’ … The parent felt that the Board was ‘implying to [children] that their religion, their belief system, and their family tradition is actually wrong.’”
When the opt-out was eliminated in the spring of 2023, nearly 70 parents spoke out at school board meetings, passionately advocating for their right to exempt their children from these controversial lessons. Hundreds — if not thousands — of emails flooded the Board of Education inboxes, and rallies drew more than a thousand attendees. While there was overwhelming support for reinstating the opt-out from a diverse coalition of families, several Montgomery County government officials, along with their allies, specifically vilified Moms for Liberty.
Every day, suburban moms like me were blamed by the Montgomery County Council’s Anti-Hate Task Force for “galvanizing the community” with our case. We were accused of “utilizing hate speech and unfortunate religious bias to spread disinformation about the books being introduced into our schools.” According to them, we were apparently so effective that we somehow convinced minority communities, Muslims and Ethiopians among them, to “latch onto this issue because they’ve not had a voice before.”
They can’t be serious, can they?
Some in the faux-tolerant progressive left can’t seem to grasp why a motley crew of religious parents — many of whom are immigrants — would band together and fight tirelessly on this issue. Again, the answer is simple: In America, it’s unconstitutional for a government institution to force its beliefs on others, especially on other people’s children.
Thanks to Friday’s landmark Supreme Court decision, every parent now enjoys the renewed right and responsibility to direct the upbringing of their children — and that doesn’t stop at the classroom door.
As we move forward, I hope that this case will serve as a catalyst for continued efforts to empower parents, protect their rights, and ensure that every child’s education is shaped by the values of their family, not a one-size-fits-all government mandate.
Rosalind Hanson is the Montgomery County Chair of Moms for Liberty
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Parental Rights Regarding LGBTQ Books In Schools

I’m One Of The Moms Who Just Won At The Supreme Court. Here’s Why We Fought.

Parents rights

Public Schools

Supreme Court

Transgender

As a mother, advocate, and candidate for the Alabama State School Board, I’ve seen firsthand how the quiet march of artificial intelligence (AI) into our public school classrooms is happening with little public awareness and even less parental consent. While the tech industry touts AI as the future of education, the reality is far more complicated — and in many ways, far more dangerous.
This is not a debate about whether technology belongs in schools. It’s a call to pause, evaluate, and protect children before we hand over their data, emotions, and daily experiences to unregulated machines.
Across the country, AI tools are already embedded in software used in classrooms — often installed by default on school-issued devices without informing parents. These tools don’t just support learning; they track facial expressions, predict emotional states, and collect vast amounts of personal information. When I raised concerns in my local district, even administrators admitted they didn’t know the apps even existed on the machines.
It gets worse. Some AI systems store data on third-party servers, outside the reach of school district oversight. Parents rarely have access to this data, don’t know who can see it, and can’t opt out. In many cases, children are being profiled and emotionally analyzed without ever giving meaningful consent.
And this is happening to minors. Children who legally cannot open a bank account or create a social media profile without parental consent are being subjected to predictive algorithms inside the classroom.
Advocates of classroom AI say it improves safety by detecting potential threats. In tech-heavy communities like Huntsville, Alabama, some districts have adopted facial recognition and behavioral analytics to monitor students. But these programs raise urgent questions: What happens when a system flags a student incorrectly? What emotional harm comes from constant surveillance? And what precedent does this set for future generations?
We are raising children in what author Jonathan Haidt calls The Anxious Generation — a generation already plagued by rising anxiety, isolation, and digital dependence. Normalizing AI surveillance in their learning environments only exacerbates these problems. It teaches kids to perform for machines rather than relate to people. It chips away at trust between students and teachers, families and schools.
The good news? People are starting to take action.
First Lady Melania Trump has championed child protections in the digital age. She recently celebrated the signing of the Take It Down Act, legislation backed by the Trump administration to remove explicit AI-generated content involving minors from the internet. This is a critical step in the right direction.
But classroom AI poses a broader risk. We need transparency, oversight, and parental rights built into the law. I’m advocating for a model policy that any state can adopt:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A ban on emotion-detecting and behavior-predicting AI systems in schools</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Mandatory parental opt-in before AI tools can be used on students</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Transparency requirements for all EdTech vendors</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Annual AI ethics and data privacy training for school staff</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A statewide or state-level task force to assess AI impact, report findings, and recommend guardrails</li>
</ul>
Local school boards don’t need to wait for Washington or their state capitol. They can start now:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Audit every digital tool currently in use</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Inform parents</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Pause new AI adoption until clear guardrails are in place</li>
</ul>
We must ask ourselves: Are we solving real problems with AI in classrooms, or creating new ones we don’t yet understand?
This isn’t anti-technology. It’s pro-accountability. Pro-parent. Pro-child.
Whether you live in Alabama, California, or anywhere in between, your school district likely has AI embedded in ways you never imagined. It’s time to demand transparency, ask hard questions, and ensure that no child becomes a test subject for Big Tech.
Let’s make this a national conversation. Let’s protect the classroom.
* * *
Emily Jones, a North Alabama native and founder of the state’s first Moms for Liberty chapter, is running for the Alabama State School Board to restore excellence to a system in decline. Like many parents, COVID-era schooling opened her eyes to just how far our public education system has fallen—from slipping academic standards to a breakdown in trust between families and schools. With Alabama ranking 45th in the nation, we must ask: what are we doing to stop the slide? Emily is committed to rebuilding the vital partnership between parents and teachers and restoring classrooms as places where educators are empowered to teach and students are expected to thrive. It’s time to raise the bar for Alabama’s children.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Science and education concept. AI (Artificial Intelligence).

We Need Parental Consent For AI In The Classroom

Artificial Intelligence

Computer

Education

High School

Opinion

Parental Rights in Education

Parenting

school district

Technology

With Governor Kelly Ayotte’s signature on Tuesday, New Hampshire became the first state in the Northeast and the 17th state in the nation to enact universal school choice. New Hampshire joins Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming in empowering all parents statewide with a portion of their children’s education funding to select the K-12 education avenue of their choice.
Previously, New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program, which began in 2021, was restricted to only families meeting a certain household income threshold. However, during this legislative session, the state House and the Senate took up separate bills to make all students eligible for the program. On March 13, <a href="https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2025&amp;id=67&amp;txtFormat=html">House Bill 115</a> passed the House by a vote of <a href="https://legiscan.com/NH/bill/HB115/2025">198-180</a>, and <a href="https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2025&amp;id=965&amp;txtFormat=html">Senate Bill 295</a> passed the Senate by a vote of <a href="https://legiscan.com/NH/votes/SB295/2025">16-8</a>.
After several more legislative steps, including moving through the House and Senate Finance Committees and adoption into the state’s budget, Senate Bill 295 successfully passed out of the legislature on June 5.
There was great confidence that Gov. Ayotte would deliver by signing the bill into law. In her Inaugural Address in January, she <a href="https://www.governor.nh.gov/news/governor-kelly-ayottes-inaugural-address">stated</a>: “As a mother, I understand that every child learns differently and that we should give each child the opportunity to be in the education setting that allows them to reach his or her full potential.”
The governor <a href="https://www.governor.nh.gov/news/governor-kelly-ayottes-inaugural-address">continued</a>: “Public Schools are critical, and I am the proud product of Nashua’s public schools, but they are not working for every child. I applaud the work the legislature has done to expand opportunities for families through education freedom accounts and look forward to strengthening and expanding this program to ensure more families have the freedom to put their children in the learning environment that is best for them.”
The Education Freedom Account funds can be used for private school tuition, tutoring, career and technical education, homeschooling curriculum, and other educational expenses. While the eligibility becomes universal, students from low-income households, students with disabilities, and students and their siblings currently enrolled in the Education Freedom Account program are prioritized.
For the current school year, approximately <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/programs/education-freedom-account-program/">5,600</a> students participated, with an average award of <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/programs/education-freedom-account-program/">$5,100 per student</a>. This is a mere fraction of the <a href="https://www.education.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt326/files/inline-documents/sonh/cost-per-pupil-fy2024-excluding-newfound.pdf">$26,320</a> that is spent to educate a public school student each year in New Hampshire.
While the funding is significantly less, there is greater accountability for how Education Freedom Account (EFA) funds are used. New Hampshire <a href="https://www.nhhousegop.com/press-releases/republicans-make-the-wildly-successful-education-freedom-accounts-universal/">State Representative Valerie McDonnell (R-Salem)</a> explains, “Every single EFA dollar is audited and publicly available. While local school budgets continue to grow and grow, the EFA program has saved the taxpayers over $266 million in the last five years. Expanding EFAs means more educational opportunities, greater accountability, and stronger outcomes for students.”
According to <a href="https://nhjournal.com/bedrick-finally-fulfilling-the-promise-of-public-education/?mkt_tok=ODI0LU1IVC0zMDQAAAGa32t7I1dLF9OyZxlQsR4nlr3M0SnLmTqfsUK6Kp4YjIQ80fxyO5a4NtQ3VQo18r-FkHASXhC1lfqaA_NBTKI-8Rc-VWzPF4rj7Up6HibL-vTwFV8-Dw">Jason Bedrick</a>, New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program “cost about $27 million last year, which is only about 0.7% of the nearly $4 billion spent on New Hampshire’s public schools.”
A new study from the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy <a href="https://jbartlett.org/2025/06/per-pupil-spending-in-nh-nearly-doubles-from-2001-2024-as-district-public-schools-spend-1-25-billion-more-on-54000-fewer-students/">found</a> that New Hampshire public school spending increased $1.25 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars between 2001 and 2024. That’s a staggering 45% despite student enrollment decreasing 26% over the same time period. The increase in spending, combined with the sharp decline in enrollment, resulted in a 96% increase in inflation-adjusted spending.
The nearly doubling of spending did not have a positive impact on student learning. Instead, student learning fell significantly. Student achievement results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam scores for reading and math <a href="https://jbartlett.org/2025/06/per-pupil-spending-in-nh-nearly-doubles-from-2001-2024-as-district-public-schools-spend-1-25-billion-more-on-54000-fewer-students/">dropped by 21 points</a>. New Hampshire’s student decline was three times that of the national average 7-point score decrease.
The lack of return on investment in the astronomically expensive and inefficient public school monopoly adds to the numerous compelling reasons to empower parents with school choice for their children.
While unfathomable just a few years ago, historic education freedom is becoming a reality, state by state and with great speed. New Hampshire is the sixth state in 2025 to enact universal school choice.
The template has been set for the remaining 33 states yet to grant all parents school choice for the thirteen most formative years of their children’s lives. Which state will be next?
* * *
<a href="https://www.discovery.org/p/ingraham/">Dr. Keri D. Ingraham</a> is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Group of school school kids running as they leave the school building

‘Live Free Or Die’ State Becomes First Universal School Choice State In The Northeast

Kelly Ayotte

New Hampshire

School Choice

Years ago, my husband and I were on a family trip in the Bahamas, staying at the Atlantis resort. One afternoon, we wandered through their underground aquarium caves, marveling at the marine life. A little girl stood transfixed by a tank of moray eels, their jagged teeth gleaming ominously. Her mother shuddered, remarking, “Those are scary, aren’t they?” Undeterred, the girl darted to the next exhibit — a tank of barracudas — and exclaimed, “There’s something more awful than that, Mummy!”
Her innocent quest for the next frightful spectacle stuck with me, and lately, it’s become a metaphor for the conservative movement’s obsession with outrage.
On platforms like X, I see a similar pattern unfolding daily. A post about a classroom poster in Wisconsin — declaring, “If your parents aren’t accepting of your identity, I’m your mom now,” with rainbow flags and cartoon bears — ignites a firestorm. Commenters pile on, each trying to outdo the last: “This is grooming!” “It’s a cult!” “Wait until you hear about what’s happening in another district!”
The refrain echoes that little girl’s cry: There’s something more awful than that. We’re trapped in an outrage cycle, endlessly seeking the next shocking story about what’s happening to our kids, from controversial school policies to perceived overreaches by educators. But this one-upmanship isn’t moving us forward — it’s keeping us stuck.
The conservative movement has mastered the art of highlighting what’s wrong, and that awareness is crucial. Parents need to know when their rights are being undermined, whether by schools, government policies, or cultural shifts. But awareness alone isn’t enough. We can’t keep pointing to the next “awful” thing without channeling that energy into action.
Outrage may grab attention, but it’s the steps we take afterward that create change. It’s time to shift our focus from amplifying the problem to building solutions — and that’s exactly what we’re doing at the Heritage Foundation.
I’m thrilled to lead the newly launched Parental Rights Network at Heritage, and I’m joined by Pat Blackburn, a passionate advocate who brings invaluable experience to this fight. Together, we’re taking the lessons we learned from our time at Moms for Liberty — where we saw the power of grassroots organizing and the hunger parents have to protect their role in their children’s lives — and using them to create real momentum in the parental rights and family empowerment movement.
The Parental Rights Network is designed to foster collaboration and create momentum by connecting individuals and groups across the country. Anyone can join the Network through a link on our landing page, opening the door to a community dedicated to strengthening parental rights.
Our mission is clear: we want to move beyond the outrage cycle and toward tangible outcomes. That means equipping parents with the tools to advocate for their rights, connecting them with like-minded communities, and pushing for policies that prioritize parental authority over government overreach.
To make this happen, we’re hosting weekly calls where members can share resources, tools, and information, and connect with others across the country to build a stronger, unified movement. We’ll also send out a weekly newsletter recapping key updates, insights, and opportunities to stay engaged. Instead of just sharing the next alarming story, we’re encouraging parents to take action — attend a school board meeting, engage with local lawmakers, or join forces with other families to demand transparency and accountability in every aspect when it comes to their kids.
The Network isn’t just about pointing out what’s wrong. It’s about building a coalition that can right those wrongs.
The conservative movement has a choice. We can keep chasing “something more awful than that,” letting outrage define our response, or we can harness that energy to create a future where parents are empowered and respected as the primary decision-makers for their children. At the Parental Rights Network, we’re choosing the latter. Join us by signing up through our landing page, participating in our weekly calls, and staying informed with our newsletter.
Together, we can move from outrage to action — because our kids deserve more than a cycle of anger; they deserve a movement that delivers real change.
* * *
Tiffany Justice is the chair of the Parental Rights Initiative at the Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Correction: A previous subheading to this article read &#8220;Moms for Liberty joins forces with The Heritage Foundation to create real momentum for parental rights.&#8221; Moms for Liberty, however, is not working directly with the Heritage Foundation. We regret the error.

Schoolgirl runs from school bus to hug mother

Beyond Outrage: A Call To Action For Conservative Parents

Children

Heritage Foundation

In 2007, when Hillary Clinton was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/us/politics/26DEBATE-TRANSCRIPT.html">asked</a> in a Democratic primary debate whether she would be comfortable having “King and King” — a children’s picture book about a prince who marries another man — read to her second-grade child as part of the school curriculum, she responded that it was a “matter of parental discretion.”
It’s remarkable how far off the deep end the Left has gone in just a few short years.
This week, the Supreme Court will <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_calendars/MonthlyArgumentCalApril2025.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hear a case</a> brought by a group of parents claiming what Clinton argued years ago: Parents should be able to decide whether or not their children read LGBTQ storybooks at school.
Oral arguments will be heard for the parental rights case Mahmoud v. Taylor, which <a href="https://becketfund.org/media/religious-parents-ask-supreme-court-to-restore-opt-outs-for-pride-storybooks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">originated</a> when the Montgomery County Board of Education introduced LGBTQ storybooks to the elementary school curriculum and revoked its existing parental notice and opt-out policies. Muslim, Jewish, and Christian parents challenged the school district’s ban on elementary school opt-outs on the grounds that the policy burdened their constitutional right to free exercise of religion.
The diverse coalition of parents isn’t asking the school district to remove the LGBTQ storybooks from classrooms. They simply want the option to remove their children from the classroom when content is taught that conflicts with their religious beliefs. Parents are the primary educators of their children, and that vocation doesn’t stop when kids begin to attend school.
The board of education added storybooks that introduce gender ideology and sexuality to children as young as three or four years old. These storybooks are transparently part of an activist push to introduce children to same-sex relationships, transgender ideology, and LGBTQ vocabulary at a startlingly young age.
“Born Ready” features a female main character who repeatedly claims, “Inside, I’m a boy,” and whose parents immediately start treating her like a boy. “Not everything needs to make sense. This is about love,” Penelope’s mom tells her confused older brother. The book’s author, Jodie Patterson, serves on the board of the Human Rights Campaign, a radical LGBTQ advocacy group.
Another book in the Montgomery County curriculum, <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">titled</a> “My Rainbow,” is about a transgender-identifying boy’s desire to have long hair to fit in with “cisgender girls.” Trinity Neal, a transgender-identifying boy, and his mother, DeShanna, a nonbinary activist, wrote the story based on their experiences. DeShanna <a href="https://history.delaware.gov/lgbtq/my-rainbow-and-trinity-neals-rainbow-wig/">advocated</a> for Medicaid coverage of Trinity’s puberty blockers, resulting in the first Medicaid coverage of transgender medical procedures in their home state of Delaware. Subsequently, Trinity <a href="https://history.delaware.gov/lgbtq/my-rainbow-and-trinity-neals-rainbow-wig/">became</a> the first minor in the state to change his birth certificate’s gender marker from male to female.
“Jacob’s Room to Choose,” about a cross-dressing boy whose school accommodates him by abolishing gendered bathrooms, was <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">published</a> through the American Psychological Association’s children’s book imprint. APA has prominently <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2024/02/policy-supporting-transgender-nonbinary#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAPA%20also%20affirms%20the%20essential,appropriate%20youth%20self%2Dadvocacy.%E2%80%9D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supported</a> transgender medical procedures for minors and advocated for so-called “gender-affirming care.”
The other books at the heart of Mahmoud v. Taylor are similarly written at an elementary school reading level but focus on complex adult topics of sexuality and gender identity. “Love, Violet” <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">focuses</a> on a same-sex relationship between elementary school classmates. “Pride Puppy” <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">instructs</a> readers to identify leather, underwear, a lip ring, an intersex flag, and a drag king in its illustrations.
“What Are Your Words?” <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">encourages</a> kids to change their pronouns, promoting confusing pairs like “ey/em,” “ze/zir,” and “xe/xir,” and using they/them pronouns to refer to individuals in the story. And “Intersection Allies,” another book <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wu2be63z1cfa0jg6fq3je/APiCjohPQCCnkdX6jXcrOIE/Book%20Covers%20%2B%20Pages/Storybooks%20(Full%20text)?dl=0&amp;e=3&amp;rlkey=te8vom170eoxvb57ivge6ecue&amp;subfolder_nav_tracking=1">featured</a> in the case, includes a foreword by critical race theorist and activist Kimberle Crenshaw.
These storybooks are examples of radical propaganda written by progressive activists to shape the hearts and minds of the next generation. Kids may not know better than to believe what they’re taught, but American adults aren’t so convinced by these woke storybooks. Only 3% of Americans <a href="https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20250115160612/Religious-Freedom-Index-2024-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">believe</a> that instruction on human sexuality and gender identity is appropriate for pre-K or kindergarten-aged children. And 77% of Americans <a href="https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20250115160612/Religious-Freedom-Index-2024-Report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">believe</a> that parents should be able to opt their children out of gender and sexuality instruction.
Just a few years ago, I pulled my children out of Fairfax County Schools because of the progressive garbage they were being exposed to in their classrooms on a daily basis. My family is not alone. There is a large movement of parents who have made the same decision we have, but not every family is in a position to do so. Parents should undoubtedly have the right to opt their children out of reading these radical activist storybooks: Children are not wards of the state.
When public schools add storybooks that teach gender ideology as truth, the state has violated the right of parents to raise their children in their religious tradition, along with teaching them the corresponding religious beliefs about gender, human sexuality, and the meaning of marriage.
The government has no business mandating that elementary students learn radical gender ideology. Fortunately, parents will do whatever it takes to protect their children and exercise their parental rights — even if it means taking the case to the Supreme Court.
* * *
Terry Schilling is a parental rights advocate and president of the American Principles Project.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Mixed race teacher reading to class

Will SCOTUS Back Parents When It Comes To LGBTQ Storybooks?

Books

Gender

gender ideology

LGBTQ

Schools

SCOTUS

Baltimore&#8217;s public school district is going on a hiring spree while student enrollment plummets and test scores remain in the basement.
Baltimore City Public Schools inflated its number of employees by nearly 19% over the six years between 2018 and last year, according to Maryland State Department of Education data <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/employee-hiring-surges-in-baltimore-schools-as-student-enrollment-plummets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analyzed</a> by Fox 45&#8217;s Project Baltimore, an investigative initiative on the city&#8217;s floundering schools.
The school district hired 1,714 more staffers while the number of students plummeted by 4,781 or 6%, the data show.
It wasn&#8217;t mostly teachers the district hired, either.
Over those six years, the district hired 992 more teachers, about a 15% increase, but it also hired 721 non-teaching staff such as administrators, a 28% increase, the analysis found.
Last school year, the Baltimore City school district had 10,874 employees for 75,811 students, about 6.9 students per staffer.
&#8220;This pattern reveals that the government school system has become more of a jobs program for adults than an education initiative for kids,&#8221; school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis told The Daily Wire.
DeAngelis noted that 40% of Baltimore high schools had zero students <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/at-13-baltimore-city-high-schools-zero-students-tested-proficient-on-2023-state-math-exam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">score</a> proficient on the 2023 state math exam.
Meanwhile, Baltimore&#8217;s public school superintendent <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/baltimore-city-schools-ceo-total-compensation-hits-479000-sonja-santelises-jackie-wlliams-josh-civin-christopher-doherty-lynette-washington-naep" target="_blank" rel="noopener">makes</a> $479,672 a year, more than the president of the United States, DeAngelis pointed out.
&#8220;These failure factories don&#8217;t give a damn about the kids,&#8221; DeAngelis said. &#8220;These overpaid administrators are leeches that extract funding away from the classroom and the kids they&#8217;re supposed to serve. Baltimore needs real accountability from the bottom-up with school choice. Families must be able to vote with their feet to schools that work best for their kids. Only then will the school system cater to the needs of children and their families as opposed to the other way around.&#8221;
School choice critics often complain that failing inner city public schools are under-funded and simply need more resources to help low-income children thrive academically.
However, Baltimore spends far more per pupil than other large city school districts whose students perform better.
Baltimore City spends $18,272 tax dollars per student, according to last year&#8217;s census, Fox 45 <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/employee-hiring-surges-in-baltimore-schools-as-student-enrollment-plummets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Meanwhile, Albuquerque, New Mexico&#8217;s, school district spends $12,964 per pupil and the Austin, Texas, district spends $12,492. Both outperform Baltimore students in every category, such as 4th and 8th grade math and reading, on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, called the &#8220;Nation’s Report Card.&#8221;
&#8220;City Schools has made targeted investments in hiring qualified staff — from classroom teachers and counselors to literacy coaches and early childhood educators,&#8221; the district <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/employee-hiring-surges-in-baltimore-schools-as-student-enrollment-plummets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. &#8220;We know that students thrive when they are supported by caring adults, and when schools are fully staffed and resourced. There is more work to do, but make no mistake — progress is happening, and our students deserve recognition for it.&#8221;

US-NEWS-BALTIMORE-SCHOOL-BUS-SAFETY-BZ

Baltimore Schools Hiring Like Crazy As Enrollment Plummets, Scores Stay Dismal

Baltimore

Money

U.S.

When Oregon&#8217;s Democrat governor announced her state would defy President Donald Trump&#8217;s ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion, she said she was doing it for a good reason: the kids.
“Since the start of the new federal administration, I promised Oregonians that I would not back down from a fight when it comes to safeguarding Oregon values,&#8221; Tina Kotek <a href="https://apps.oregon.gov/oregon-newsroom/OR/GOV/Posts/Post/governor-kotek-issues-statement-in-response-to-trump-administration’s-threat-to-take-away-funds-from-oregon-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Thursday. &#8220;Making sure every child has the opportunity to meet their future promise with a strong public education is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government and one of my top priorities as Governor.&#8221;
That&#8217;s ironic. Because, under Kotek&#8217;s leadership, Oregon&#8217;s students are struggling to get by.
Nearly half of Oregon fourth graders scored below &#8220;basic&#8221; levels in reading, meaning they <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/reading-scores-fall-to-new-low-on-naep-fueled-by-declines-for-struggling-students/2025/01#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20that%20scoring,purpose%20of%20an%20informational%20text." target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack</a> important reading comprehension skills like being able to determine the main idea of a text. In math, about a third of fourth graders scored below basic, <a href="https://www.nagb.gov/news-and-events/news-releases/2025/nations-report-card-decline-in-reading-progress-in-math.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meaning</a> they likely struggle with simple concepts like odd numbers.
Eighth graders&#8217; scores were just as concerning, with nearly half (45%) <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219OR8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scoring</a> below basic in math, and over a third (35%) <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220OR8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scoring</a> below basic in reading.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a bold strategy, Cotton,&#8221; school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Let&#8217;s see if it works out for them.&#8221;
&#8220;Oregon should lose all federal funding if they want to indoctrinate kids with DEI Marxism. Tax dollars shouldn&#8217;t prop up divisive ideologies that pit students against each other and their country,&#8221; DeAngelis told The Daily Wire.
That&#8217;s exactly what the Trump administration says it will do if Oregon doesn&#8217;t comply with its DEI ban. The Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/reminder-of-legal-obligations-undertaken-exchange-receiving-federal-financial-assistance-and-request-certification-under-title-vi-and-sffa-v-harvard-april-3">informed</a> states earlier this month that &#8220;The continued use of illegal DEI practices may subject the individual or entity using such practices to serious consequences,&#8221; including &#8220;eliminating federal funding.&#8221;
But despite that threat, Oregon Democrats are, in DeAngelis&#8217;s words, &#8220;doubling down on failure.&#8221; To him, it&#8217;s because they &#8220;see the school system as a tool to control the minds of other people&#8217;s children as opposed to an education initiative.&#8221;
&#8220;Oregon Democrats are all-in on indoctrinating kids with their socialist worldview,&#8221; DeAngelis said. &#8220;Telling kids that they&#8217;re going to be failures based on their immutable characteristics holds them down.&#8221;
&#8220;This latest stunt proves their anti-parent agenda is even more about control than money,&#8221; he added. &#8220;These control freaks need to do their job, stay in their lane, and stick to the basics so kids can get an education.&#8221;
The governor&#8217;s office did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress — called &#8220;the Nation&#8217;s Report Card&#8221; — Oregon fourth graders <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024219OR4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranked</a> second-worst in the country in math, tying with five other states, and third-worst in <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2024/pdf/2024220OR4.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reading</a>, along with 11 other states.
But as scores plummeted over the last decade, Oregon schools did not drill down on phonics or multiplication tables. Instead, they focused on flashy, progressive wish-list items.
After the coronavirus pandemic, Portland-area parents <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/parents-apoplectic-after-oregon-school-board-goes-virtual-amid-gender-ideology-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">erupted</a> at school board meetings over schools&#8217; embrace of gender ideology, including the availability of alleged “pornographic” books in school libraries, and subpar academic performance.
In Portland, the teachers&#8217; union decided in 2023 that they would take gender identity and race into account before disciplining students, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/portland-teachers-will-take-gender-identity-race-into-account-before-disciplining" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the union&#8217;s collective bargaining agreement. After the pandemic, Portland teachers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/portland-teachers-will-take-gender-identity-race-into-account-before-disciplining" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> they were seeing “more students in crisis” with mental health issues, which can lead to fights.
In 2022, Oregon <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/science/Documents/K-12%20%20Oregon%20Science%20Standards%20with%20Guidance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">updated</a> its science standards to teach that humans cause climate change.
Defending Education, a group that fights indoctrination in public schools, said Oregon should be focused on improving its dismal test scores.
&#8220;Oregon&#8217;s education leaders should be hanging their heads in shame,&#8221; Sarah Parshall Perry, the group&#8217;s vice president, told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;Instead, they&#8217;ve doubled down on divisive and racially discriminatory DEI programs that have done nothing to boost educational outcomes,&#8221; she said. &#8220;That&#8217;s not only a violation of federal law, it&#8217;s foolhardy and misguided. And the students of Oregon deserve better. They deserve an education focused on the academic fundamentals the state has so clearly failed to deliver.”
Jeanette Schade, a former Oregon teacher who ran for school board in the Portland area in 2021, blamed the state&#8217;s failing school system on a laundry list of problems, including &#8220;dumbed-down&#8221; teacher education programs.
&#8220;Teachers are being indoctrinated in their teacher education programs,&#8221; Schade told The Daily Wire, saying those teachers go on to expose children to DEI, Critical Race Theory, and sex education that includes gender ideology.
Schade also noted that Oregon scrapped its graduation requirements during the pandemic and never went back.
In 2021, Oregon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/oregon-extends-pandemic-pause-on-reading-writing-math-proficiency-high-school-graduation-requirement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> the controversial move to stop requiring high schoolers to pass an &#8220;essential skills&#8221; standardized test <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/essentialskills/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showing</a> basic proficiency in reading, writing, and math in order to receive their diploma.
Advocates for pausing the graduation requirement argued that the test put minority students at a disadvantage. Now, critics simply point to the sinking test scores.
<div dir="auto">
&#8220;DEI is the exact opposite of what the words mean,&#8221; Schade said. &#8220;Diversity means uniformity. Equity means not equal or helpful. And inclusive means exclude.&#8221;
</div>

Oregon Gubernatorial Candidate Tina Kotek Cast Her Ballot In Portland

As Oregon Defies Trump On DEI In Schools, Its Students Are Falling Through The Cracks

Oregon Is Doubling Down On DEI In The Classroom. It Has Some Of The Country's Worst Schools.

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

LGBT

Oregon

A Florida teacher has been fired for using a student&#8217;s preferred name without the consent of the student&#8217;s parents.
Melissa Calhoun, a teacher at Satellite High School near Cape Canaveral, will not have her contract renewed for next school year after she called a student by a preferred name without getting a form signed by the parents, the district said.
Calhoun is thought to be the first teacher fired over Florida&#8217;s new law requiring teachers to obtain parental consent before referring to students by a different name than their legal one. This is the second school year the law has been in effect.
The student&#8217;s parent reportedly alerted Brevard Public Schools that Calhoun was calling the student by a different name.
Members of the community said this case was related to the student&#8217;s transgender-identifying identity.
&#8220;BPS supports parents’ rights to be the primary decision-makers in their children’s lives, and Florida law affirms their right to be informed,&#8221; Brevard Public Schools Spokesperson Janet Murnaghan <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2025/04/10/florida-high-school-teacher-calls-student-by-preferred-name-loses-job/83008163007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
&#8220;At BPS our focus is on education — teachers are here to teach and support students academically,&#8221; Murnaghan said. &#8220;Our job is to work in partnership with parents and guardians to ensure student success.&#8221;
Calhoun allegedly said she &#8220;knowingly did not comply with state statute.&#8221;
The district issued her a letter of reprimand and ultimately decided not to renew her contract for the fall because the state would be reviewing her teaching credentials since she had violated state law. Calhoun will finish out the school year, and then her contract expires in May.
The situation has sparked a strong response in the community, with some community members protesting the teacher&#8217;s firing at a school board meeting on Tuesday.
Calhoun has worked for the district for over a decade, since 2013, and she taught AP Literature, her LinkedIn <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2025/04/10/florida-high-school-teacher-calls-student-by-preferred-name-loses-job/83008163007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a>.
The federal government has taken a similar stand to Florida on gender ideology in public schools.
Shortly after he took office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to pull federal funding from public school districts that promote gender ideology.
Gender ideology became a hot button issue during the presidential election last year. Parents across the country sounded the alarm on children going by different names and pronouns in school behind families&#8217; backs, supported by teachers and school staff.
A 2023 poll <a href="https://defendinged.org/press-releases/parents-defending-education-poll-71-of-voters-support-legislation-requiring-schools-to-inform-parents-if-their-child-wants-to-change-their-gender-identity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that 71% of voters supported schools being legally required to inform parents when a student wants to change their gender identity.

US-POLITICS-WYOMING-LGBTQ-DISCRIMINATION

Florida Teacher Fired For Using Student’s Preferred Name Behind Parents’ Backs

Florida

Social Issues

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security showed up at two elementary schools in Los Angeles this week, but were refused entry amid the Trump administration&#8217;s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The two agents “identified themselves as representatives of a federal agency” and went into the main office, but school administrators refused to allow them on campus, and the agents left, the Los Angeles Unified School District <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/federal-employees-denied-entry-to-two-lausd-schools/3675573/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
The two public schools were Lillian Street Elementary and Russell Elementary.
The district <a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/2-l-a-schools-deny-entry-for-federal-agents-as-immigration-enforcement-fears-ramp-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the agents were from Homeland Security, and no Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up. It is not clear exactly what the agents were hoping to do at the schools.
About one in four of the nearly 30,000 immigrant students in the Los Angeles school district, so about 7,500 students are illegal immigrants, <a href="https://utla.net/resources/immigration-resources-community/#:~:text=LAUSD%20alone%20serves%20an%20immigrant,them%20with%20safe%20spaces%2Fresources" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the local teachers&#8217; union, United Teachers Los Angeles.
“We want to reaffirm the District’s unwavering commitment to the well-being and education of all students,&#8221; the district said in a message to the community.
The district&#8217;s message included a <a href="https://www.lausd.org/weareone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">link</a> to the district&#8217;s immigration resources, which promise that the district &#8220;has protocols for responding to immigration personnel requests for information&#8221; and &#8220;will do everything in its power to protect and defend students, families, and staff.&#8221;
&#8220;Our schools are places of inspiration, protection, empathy, and knowledge. Fear and threat shall be met with courage and determination,&#8221; Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
The Los Angeles district also alerted other school districts about “reports of immigration enforcement activity.”
The agents&#8217; visit to the schools comes after the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01/21/statement-dhs-spokesperson-directives-expanding-law-enforcement-and-ending-abuse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrapped</a> the Biden administration&#8217;s policy barring immigration agents from &#8220;sensitive&#8221; areas.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” former acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in January.
“The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” he said.
This week&#8217;s visit by the agents is believed to be the first time immigration agents have shown up at a public school since President Donald Trump took office.
About 98,000 illegal migrant students graduate from U.S. high schools across the country every year, the Los Angeles teachers union <a href="https://utla.net/resources/immigration-resources-community/#:~:text=LAUSD%20alone%20serves%20an%20immigrant,them%20with%20safe%20spaces%2Fresources" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
For years, sanctuary cities like Los Angeles have refused to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement, not just in schools, but in criminal cases.
Oftentimes local law enforcement is directed not to hold illegal migrant crime suspects until ICE agents can get there to arrest and deport them, meaning the suspects get released back onto the streets.

Homeland Security

Federal Immigration Agents Denied Access To Los Angeles Public Schools

California

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Los Angeles

Minnesota&#8217;s second-largest public school district told invitees to this month&#8217;s &#8220;Equity Summit&#8221; to keep quiet about the event, citing &#8220;current political attacks on equity.&#8221;
Saint Paul Public Schools plans to hold this year&#8217;s &#8220;Beyond OUR Walls: Equity Summit&#8221; on Saturday, April 26, at one of the district&#8217;s high schools.
&#8220;I am reaching out to personally invite you, as an identified person/organization who may have interest or benefit from attending,&#8221; Edairra McCalister, the district&#8217;s Equity Specialist at its Office of Equity, wrote to invitees in a March 10 email obtained by The Daily Wire.
The email included &#8220;communication guidelines&#8221; to keep summit attendees &#8220;safe while holding to our commitment to equity.&#8221;
&#8220;Current political attacks on equity have real, potentially harmful consequences for our students, staff, and families,&#8221; McCalister wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨NEW: St Paul Public Schools in Minnesota told invitees to keep quiet about its &quot;Equity Summit&quot; this month citing &quot;current political attacks on equity&quot;
&quot;We ask that you DO NOT share to social media or public-facing platforms&quot;
From the district&#39;s &quot;equity specialist&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZzCEwQktrU">pic.twitter.com/ZzCEwQktrU</a>
&mdash; Mairead Elordi (@JohnsonHildy) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnsonHildy/status/1910327885065240875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;We ask that you DO NOT share to social media or public-facing platforms (e.g. Facebook, X, community bulletins or newsletters, district websites open to the public),&#8221; she wrote.
However, McCalister encouraged attendees, &#8220;please DO send directly to trusted people and groups who are committed to equity who may want to submit a workshop or attend.&#8221;
Trusted people and groups include those who are &#8220;committed&#8221; to &#8220;racial and gender equity&#8221; and &#8220;social justice.&#8221;
McCalister appears to have started her position as the district&#8217;s equity specialist in January, just as President Donald Trump took office, according to her LinkedIn.
The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-order-defunding-schools-teaching-gender-ideology-crt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> executive orders prohibiting federal funding for school districts that promote a &#8220;discriminatory equity ideology,&#8221; which <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">includes</a> the idea that the United States is fundamentally racist or that one race is &#8220;inherently racist&#8221; either &#8220;consciously or unconsciously.&#8221;
Saint Paul Public Schools&#8217; Equity Office links to a &#8220;racial equity&#8221; policy aimed at confronting &#8220;institutional racism.&#8221; A &#8220;Justice for George Floyd&#8221; page <a href="https://www.spps.org/about/departments/equity/justice-for-george-floyd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">links</a> to a list of resources on how to talk to children about &#8220;racism&#8221; and whiteness&#8221; that includes materials on &#8220;implicit bias.&#8221;
The Equity Office also <a href="https://www.spps.org/about/departments/equity/out-for-equity/gender-inclusion-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">links</a> to a &#8220;gender inclusion policy&#8221; that allows trans-identifying students to use the bathrooms and play on the sports teams of the opposite sex, which Trump&#8217;s executive order also prohibits.
Asked why invitees were asked not to share the event on social media, the school district said it decided to market the event more directly this year in order to increase turnout.
&#8220;Our previous marketing strategies for this event did not yield as high of a participation as we had hoped,&#8221; Saint Paul Public Schools said in a statement to The Daily Wire. &#8220;This is an event centered around youth and youth-serving organizations, and we realized our greatest recruiting efforts came through talking to and communicating directly with those who are interested.&#8221;
&#8220;It is important that we have networks and positive relationships in place for youth to be able to feel comfortable exercising their leadership,&#8221; the school district said.
In previous years, the school district has appeared <a href="https://www.spps.org/about/departments/equity/programming/beyond-our-walls-spps-equity-summit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eager</a> to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/youthprise/p/C6Ec7Q9OO7W/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promote</a> the Equity Summit. A few mentions of this year&#8217;s event do <a href="https://www.spps.org/about/departments/equity/announcements" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appear</a> on the district&#8217;s website. It is open to the general public, specifically &#8220;educators, students, parents, leaders, and community members,&#8221; according to the email.
The summit&#8217;s theme for this year is &#8220;From Harm to Healing, From Hope to Action.&#8221;
This year, the keynote speaker will be Dr. Bettina Love, an academic who <a href="https://bettinalove.com/bio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">talks</a> about &#8220;systemic racism&#8221; in public schools and has <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-teachers-we-cannot-go-back-to-the-way-things-were/2020/04" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> standardized testing.

People waiting on an LGBTQ pride parade

Minnesota Public Schools Told Invitees To Keep Quiet About ‘Equity’ Summit

Saint Paul Public Schools Told Invitees To Keep Quiet About 'Equity' Summit

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin used his veto power to send a bill back to the Democrat-controlled legislature with a clever change.
The legislature last month passed a bill introduced by State Delegate Laura Jane Cohen (D-Fairfax), a far-left former school board member, requiring schools to text and email parents each school year, admonishing them to lock up any guns they own. Youngkin added a provision that would require schools to also communicate with parents before transitioning a child to a different gender.
Democrats previously voted down a similar bill, but now they will have to vote whether to accept or reject the edit, potentially putting them on the record in an election year that they oppose parental involvement in the most intimate aspect of their child’s life. Virginia holds elections in odd-numbered years, and Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost the election to Youngkin in 2019 after saying he didn’t believe parents should play a role in what goes on in schools.
Youngkin sailed to victory after lashing out at Loudoun County Public Schools for covering up a rape by a “genderfluid” boy in order to pass a transgender bathroom policy. 
<a href="https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1046364.PDF" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cohen’s bill</a> required school boards to “require the notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the local school division, to be sent by email and, if applicable, SMS text message within 30 calendar days succeeding the first day of each school year, of (i) the importance of securely storing any prescription drug, as defined in § 54.1-3401, present in the household and (ii) the parent&#8217;s responsibility, in accordance with § 18.2-56.2, to safely store any firearm present in the household.”
Instead of vetoing it, Youngkin continued with the theme of parental communication, <a href="https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20251/HB1678/text/HB1678AG" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adding a requirement</a> that:
<blockquote>Local school boards shall develop protocols by which each public elementary or secondary school principal or his designee shall, as soon as practicable, (i) inform at least one parent of a minor student enrolled in such school if such minor requests that any school employee participate while at school in (a) social affirmation of the minor student&#8217;s gender incongruence or (b) the transition of such minor to a felt or stated gender different from the minor student&#8217;s biological sex and (ii) request and receive permission from at least one parent of a minor student enrolled at such school prior to the implementation at such school of any plan concerning any gender incongruence experienced by such minor, including any counseling of such minor at school that includes a provision for parental participation.</blockquote>
Cohen called the amendment “garbage,” telling <a href="https://www.wvtf.org/news/2025-03-28/youngkin-adds-controversial-amendment-to-parental-notification-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RadioIQ,</a> “For some people, teachers are the only ones they can talk to in their lives.&#8221;
As this reporter&#8217;s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Race-Bottom-Uncovering-Destroying-Education/dp/0063056720/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Race to the Bottom</a> found, Cohen has a child who has severe cognitive disabilities and who believes she is transgender. She ran for the Fairfax County School Board in 2019 to displace a Republican who had tried to stop the board from rushing through a transgender policy in spite of public comment indicating widespread opposition. Cohen was elected with assistance from Moms Demand Action, a national anti-gun group funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
On Wednesday, the legislature will hold a floor debate on the provision requiring parental permission for gender transition, and Democrats will have to vote on whether they think schools should transition a child’s gender while keeping it secret from their parents.
Democrats have only slim majorities in each chamber, so Youngkin&#8217;s proposal would become law if even a few Democrats support it. The Daily Wire asked three vulnerable House Democrats — Joshua Cole (Fredericksburg), Josh Thomas (Gainesville), and Michael Feggans (Virginia Beach) — their positions, and none replied.
In 2023, Republicans introduced a similar bill called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/virginia-republican-moves-to-ban-calling-misgendering-child-abuse-after-girl-is-kept-from-her-parents-for-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sage’s Law</a>, named after a girl from rural Virginia who was secretly gender-transitioned by her high school, setting in motion her being sex trafficked to Baltimore, where the FBI found her locked in the home of a convicted sex offender. A Baltimore court refused to return her to Virginia after a school counselor allegedly speculated that Sage&#8217;s mother might not accept her new gender. Instead, she was placed in a foster home for Baltimore’s most troubled boys, and was abused again.
Despite the heartbreaking story, Democrats voted down Sage’s Law last session. It was re-introduced this year, but denied a hearing, at which the story would have been told. (Read about Sage’s horror story <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maryland-refused-to-give-back-a-virginia-runaway-because-her-parents-misgendered-her-then-she-was-sex-trafficked-mother-says">here</a>.)
Sage’s mother later filed a lawsuit against the Appomattox County Public Schools, alleging its counselors summoned Sage to discuss her gender eight times during the first 12 days of the 2021-22 school year. It also alleged that the counselors were providing major psychiatric care they were not qualified or authorized to perform.

Virginia Governor Glenn (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Youngkin Edits Far-Left Legislator’s Gun Bill, Making It Prohibit Secret Gender Transitions For Kids

Glenn Youngkin

Gun Control

Virginia

Unsurprisingly, there is tremendous fearmongering marked by falsehoods from the opposition regarding President Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Public school personnel are already claiming that special education funding has been cut and that closing the department will devastate their ability to educate students. These claims are unfounded.
Amongst the loudest clamoring are the teachers union bosses. Randi Weingarten, head of the second largest teachers union, the American Federation for Teachers, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/randi-weingarten-spitting-mad-about-evisceration-education-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in her own words</a>, is “spitting mad.” Note this is the Weingarten who leveraged her political power to <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/biden-believes-in-science-so-long-as-the-teachers-unions-approve/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directly influence the CDC</a> to keep public schools closed to children outrageously far longer than necessary.
Following the signing of the executive order, the American Federation for Teachers issued a <a href="https://www.aft.org/press-release/educators-professors-school-districts-unions-unite-challenge-trump-attempt-dismantle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> announcing the filing of a lawsuit by a coalition of educators, school districts, and unions against the Trump administration. Regarding the recent cutting of the massive bureaucracy bloat within the federal department and those responsible for woke DEI initiatives, the press release <a href="https://www.aft.org/press-release/educators-professors-school-districts-unions-unite-challenge-trump-attempt-dismantle" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read</a>: “Mass firings of these hardworking people planned by the Trump administration will harm students and schools.”
Clearly overlooking the reality that public education is failing to effectively educate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-national-test-scores-make-undeniable-case-for-school-choice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seven out of ten</a> schoolchildren in the basics of reading and math, the teacher union is rushing to legal action in an attempt to maintain the status quo, which is a death sentence for children’s futures.
John B. King Jr, who was the U.S. Secretary of Education for a stint during the Obama administration, is another Democrat working overtime to dispense fear to Americans over the plan to dismantle the disastrous Department of Education. In a recent short <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/28/nx-s1-5341462/trump-education-department-financial-aid-layoffs-arrests-international-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview with NPR</a>, King kept his main talking point on repeat, asserting that “People are very worried.” Continuing, he commented about the things he’s “most worried about.” King went on, “…I’m very worried…” The painful and brief interview concluded with a final question to which King tripled down on his anxiety-spreading effort. “I’m really worried….I’m worried…I’m worried…”
The fearmongering is unfounded. President Trump, in his address prior to signing the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities</a>” executive order into law, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnoGgEJvLs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">communicated</a> that “Pell Grants, Title I funding, resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be preserved — fully preserved.” He explained that those programs would be “redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.”
More specifically, special education programs will <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-and-defense-secretary-hegseth-deliver-remarks-on-f-47-fighter-jet/657517" target="_blank" rel="noopener">move to</a> the Department of Health and Human Services. Student loans will <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/white-house-event/president-trump-and-defense-secretary-hegseth-deliver-remarks-on-f-47-fighter-jet/657517" target="_blank" rel="noopener">head to</a> the Small Business Administration (SBA), which is a commonsense change from education policy personnel managing the <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/article/40-18-trillion-student-loans-late-payments-trump-seeks-abolish-dept-ed/27711" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1.8 trillion loan portfolio</a>. And, importantly, states will be freed from the red tape of Washington D.C., empowering them to make decisions concerning how best to educate the children of their state.
So, what is being cut? Simply put, the billions of dollars spent fueling the promotion of radical ideologies to children, such as gender ideology, Critical Race Theory, and an anti-American worldview. As one example, on January 23, the U.S. Department of Education, under the president&#8217;s direction, <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-takes-action-eliminate-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began taking action</a> to “eliminate harmful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.” That <a href="https://www.chalkboardnews.com/issues/cultural-issues/article_89d2f95a-da74-11ef-881f-c31173f69a5c.html?seyid=48320" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> placing personnel who lead DEI initiatives on administrative leave, the deletion of more than 200 webpages of DEI resources that “promote or endorse” the “harmful ideological programs,” and ending DEI contracts totaling over $2.5 million.
Then, on January 29, President Trump signed the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling</a>” executive order. It <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that “In recent years…parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight.” Specifically, the Secretary of Education, Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services must consult with the Attorney General to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-indoctrination-in-k-12-schooling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">create a plan</a> within 90 days to end indoctrination and protect parental rights.
Additionally, federal bureaucrats pushing paper in Washington D.C. have been cut. Already, <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-initiates-reduction-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">half of the positions</a> within the U.S. Department of Education have been eliminated as education rightfully returns to the states. Big government control of K-12 education has been a massive failure and has not increased student learning. Block granting the money back to the states will enhance efficiency and effectiveness while also providing increased accountability for student academic learning.
Don’t listen to the lies or anxiety-induced talking points. Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education is a win for America and a much-needed step forward toward the goal of successfully educating our future generation.
Hats off to President Trump for taking this longtime-coming, much needed action to ensure that gone will be the days of only three out of ten public school children learning to read or do math proficiently.
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Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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