‘Parents’ rights’ cut both ways
In recent years, GOP-controlled school boards have cited that phrase when enacting book bans and other restrictive measures. But this month's elections show that Democratic parents have rights, too.
Should parents influence what schools do?
Of course they should. And any elected official who says otherwise is destined to lose.
Witness the fate of former Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe, who told a debate audience in 2021 — during his bid for governor in Virginia — that he didn’t think parents “should be telling schools what they should teach.”
McAuliffe had already served as governor of the state, from 2014 to 2018. But he lost the second time around, largely because of this first-class blunder. If you don’t like what schools are doing, don’t tell other citizens to butt out. Butt in and raise your own voice. That’s the American way.
It’s also the lesson of the recent school board elections in Bucks County and around the nation, where Republicans proclaiming “parental rights” went down to defeat. Many of these GOP candidates were endorsed by Moms for Liberty, the burgeoning conservative group that has backed bans on critical race theory, LGBTQ-themed books, and more. It also drew several Republican presidential candidates to its convention in Philadelphia last summer, where they pledged to “defend the rights of parents,” as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told the gathering.
But it turns out that Democratic parents have rights, too. And when they speak up, they can reverse what Republican parents have done.
In the Central Bucks School District, which had banned “sexualized content” from libraries and Pride flags from classrooms, Democrats swept five school board seats. They also swept five seats in Perkiomen Valley — where the board prohibited transgender students from using bathrooms aligned with their gender — and in Pennridge, which had hired a curriculum consultant aligned with Moms for Liberty.
Ditto for Iowa, where 12 of the 13 school board candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty lost. So did most of the candidates in Ohio and Minnesota who were backed by Moms for Liberty and other right-wing parent groups. And in Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin defeated McAuliffe in 2021 on a “parents’ rights” platform, Democrats recaptured the statehouse. They also won control of the school board in Loudoun County, which had made national headlines because of challenges to Toni Morrison’s prizewinning novel, Beloved.
Americans are a freedom-loving people, and most of them don’t want schools to ban books with controversial content. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, which examined over 1,000 challenges to books filed in the 2020-21 school year in 37 states, the majority of complaints were brought by just 11 people. Each of these individuals made 10 or more challenges; one man filed 92.
And sometimes, all it takes is one complaint to ban a book. A North Carolina school board removed Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You from an Advanced Placement Language and Composition class when one parent — that’s right, just one — complained about it. “I feel a little powerless,” said the class’ teacher, who was ordered to choose another book. “This is just the first of many dominoes to fall before the tide shifts again.”
Parents on the left can influence schools, too, if they follow the same playbook as Moms for Liberty: organize, protest, and vote.
On Election Day, the shift began. Of course, conservative parent groups remain influential forces in many parts of the country. But this fall’s school board results show that parents on the left can influence schools, too, if they follow the same playbook as Moms for Liberty: organize, protest, and vote.
In North Carolina, a group called Heal America prepares people to speak at school board meetings. So does Red Wine and Blue, a national organization that has enrolled over 11,000 people in its one-hour “troublemaker training.” The goal is “not letting Moms for Liberty be the only voice in the room,” one activist explained.
McAuliffe was wrong when he told parents to keep out of the room. And Youngkin was correct when he said they have a right to be there. “No more are we going to make parents stand outside the room,” Youngkin told a campaign rally, the day before this month’s elections. “We are going to put them at the head of the table in charge of our children’s lives.”
But Youngkin was wrong, too, if he imagined that GOP parents would be the only ones to take up his invitation. Once you open the door, Democrats can come in, as well. If they keep coming, they just might get to the head of the table.