Tag: School Boards

DeSantis Keeps Promise, Launches Education Agenda for School Board Candidates

Steve Stewart

On Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis launched an education agenda focused on influencing local school board races in the 2022 election cycle.

Titled “The DeSantis Education Agenda: Putting Parents First, Protecting Parents’ Rights,”, the policy focuses on issues related to student success, parental rights and curriculum transparency.”

According to the website, “The DeSantis Education Agenda is a student-first, parent-centered initiative focused on setting Florida’s children up for success, ensuring parental rights in education, and combatting the woke agenda from infiltrating public schools….This statewide agenda is for school board candidates and school board members who are committed to advancing these priorities at the local school board level.”

In a statement provided to The Federalist, DeSantis championed the launch of the agenda, saying that “Florida has delivered the most student-focused, parent-centered education agenda in the nation” at a time when “curriculum in states around the country are being used as opportunities to indoctrinate innocent children.”

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David Perdue Lists Georgia Parents’ Bill of Rights He Plans to Deliver as Governor

Chris Butler

Former Republican senator and current Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue on Monday published a Georgia Parents’ Bill of Rights that he said protects children from overzealous school administrators. Perdue’s proposal borrows from federal legislation that U.S. Senator Josh Hawley(R-MO) proposed last year.

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Virginia Car Insurance, Other New Laws Go Into Effect

The Center Square

A series of new Virginia laws go into effect in the new year, including changes to required car insurance coverage.

Beginning in January, car insurance companies will be required to provide $30,000 in coverage for injury or death to one person and $60,000 in coverage for injury or death to two or more people. This will be an increase of $5,000 worth of coverage for one person and an increase of $10,000 of coverage for two or more people. The property damage coverage will remain at $20,000.

This legislation is part of an incremental increase in required coverage. The mandatory coverage will increase again in 2025 to $50,000 for one person and $100,000 for two or more people, which doubles the current requirements. In 2025, the property damage coverage will also increase, but only to $25,000.

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Republican Legislators Introduce Accountability Bills for Arizona’s School Boards

Peter D'Abrosca

A Republican State Senator wants partisan school board elections in Arizona, which she says will encourage accountability. 

“It’s more to make a statement about the process,” State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) told The Arizona Sun Times. “Right now the process for electing school boards lacks in the accountability and transparency department. Candidates don’t have to be accountable to a party. Voters don’t have a clear understanding of the political lens these candidates are going to be basing decisions on.”

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Commentary: Parents Are Students’ First Teachers and Greatest Advocates

RealClearWire

It is not a novel concept that family engagement is one of the strongest predictors of children’s school success. Studies over the past 50 years demonstrate a positive relationship between family engagement and student achievement for students of all backgrounds. Children are most successful when supported by families and schools working together collaboratively. As a parent, I understand the unique needs and learning behaviors of my children more than anyone. Through my respective roles as an educator and a federal K-12 policy professional, I also understand the nuances of balancing parental input with a safe and effective education for all students.

For years, parental involvement in education has been supported by Republican and Democratic leaders as integral to student success and as a guiding principle for federal and state education policy. The Every Student Succeeds ‎Act (ESSA), the bipartisan K-12 federal education law, explicitly requires that parents be meaningfully involved and consulted in the ‎development of state and school district education plans. These plans provide the ‎framework for how states and school districts will deliver education to elementary and high ‎school students. Additionally, the law requires that parents be involved in the creation of “state ‎report cards,” providing information on how schools in each state are performing – including ‎student achievement levels. The report cards ‎must be written and in an accessible way so that parents can take action to engage with their child’s school.

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Mark Pulliam Talks About His Latest Piece at American Greatness Regarding Parental Rights

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Misrule of Law Blog Creator and attorney Mark Pulliam to the newsmakers line to discuss his recent piece at American Greatness.

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Commentary: Activating the ‘Secret Police’ to Aid School Boards

Admin

The FBI will investigate threats and intimidation against school board members, administrators, teachers, and staff, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Oct. 4. In so doing, Garland claimed federal jurisdiction over local law enforcement, in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.

This power grab by the AG supposedly came as a response to a letter from the National School Boards Association (NSBA), a leftist advocacy group with vast influence over the nation’s school boards. To gain some insight into how this ukase or edict is playing out, I attended a school board meeting in the charming village of Greenwich (“It’s Greeen-wich, not Gren-itch”) in northern New York state.

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School Boards Group That Equated Parental Activism with ‘Domestic Terrorism’ Owes IRS $20 Million

Admin

A national education group that implied some parental activism is tantamount to “domestic terrorism” owes nearly $20 million to the IRS, according to tax forms reviewed by Just the News.

Most of that comes from “accrued pension liability,” as disclosed by the National School Boards Association’s 2017 and 2018 Form 990 filings. Unlike those two, the 2019 form — the most recently filed — does not include an itemized list under the federal income taxes subheading for “other liabilities.”

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Majority of Americans Oppose FBI Investigation of Parents at School Board Meetings, Survey Finds

The Center Square
Merrick Garland

The majority of Americans oppose the Biden administration’s plans to monitor and investigate outspoken parents at school boards meetings, new polling from Convention of States Action reveals.

The poll found 57% of those surveyed do not support the announcement while 19.8% are in favor. The rest are not sure.

“…One can plainly see that those who are aware that Merrick Garland made this announcement oppose him by large majorities, while there’s a group who marked ‘not sure’ because they don’t know about his announcement or don’t know enough about it,” said Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action.

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Congressman Scott DesJarlais Joins over 60 GOP Colleagues in Sending Letter Demanding Answers from DOJ for Targeting Concerned Parents

Kaitlin Housler

On Thursday, over 60 GOP members of Congress, including Tennessee Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04), sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding answers as to why the Department is targeting parents who oppose Critical Race Theory (CRT) and mask mandates in schools.

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Grassroots ‘America Pack’ in Scottsdale Draws Large Crowd to Discuss Election Fraud, More

Rachel Alexander
Woman voting at booth

A new grassroots patriotic organization has sprung up in the Phoenix area, America Pack. Led by founder Valerie Grosso-Turley, it seeks to get involved at the local level in a way many conservative groups fail to — boots on the ground, not just sitting around listening to speakers.

Grosso-Turley urged the crowd, which was composed substantially of precinct committee people, to get involved at the school board level. She cited the Biden administration weaponizing the FBI to squelch dissent by parents. She said this is because parents speaking up is having results, “They wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t matter.” 

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Commentary: Biden’s Attack on Public School Parents Cannot Stand

Admin

President Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland’s memo directing the FBI to investigate parents who speak out at school board meetings has shocked the nation.

The Biden administration has gone into full attack mode against the First Amendment right to petition the government as Attorney General Merrick Garland has declared that parents opposing Critical Race Theory before their local school boards should be treated as terrorists under the Patriot Act.

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Trump Slams DOJ Plan to Monitor Parents Fighting ‘Radical Left School Boards’ over Critical Race Theory in Classrooms

Admin

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday denounced the Justice Department for asking the FBI to investigate parents who are pressuring school boards to stop teaching critical race theory, saying it was part of a larger leftist agenda to sideline moms and dads from having a say over their children’s future.

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Republican Congressional Candidate Robby Starbuck Announces Ric Grenell Endorsement and How He’ll Put Liberty Above All Else

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Republican candidate for Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District, Robby Starbuck to the newsmakers line to announce his endorsement from former DNI Ric Grenell.

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Crom Carmichael Calls for Toxic School Boards and Teachers Unions to Be Removed and Replaced

Julie Carr

Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss morally corrupt school boards and teachers’ unions.

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Commentary: The Great Parent Revolt

RealClearWire

As overreach in classrooms by progressive school administrators, nonprofits and the federal government has reached new heights, parents are stepping up to fight back.

Moms for Liberty, Informed Parents of California, EdFirstNC, NJ Parental Rights, No Left Turn in Education and Parents Against Critical Theory are just a few of the hundreds of new parent groups that have emerged across the country in recent months. Many parents have become education activists because of schools’ failure to bring children back into the classroom or their continued imposition of mask mandates.

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‘Black Eye for America’ Author Dr. Carol M. Swain Will Appear This Saturday in Brentwood for a Book Signing

Julie Carr

Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Professor Carol Swain in studio to discuss her upcoming event this Saturday at Puffy Muffin in Brentwood and losing trust in familiar institutions.

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Homeschoolacademy.com CEO Jessica Parnell Outlines Program Choices and Increase of Enrollment

Julie Carr

Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Bridgeway Academy’s CEO Jessica Parnell to the newsmakers line to discuss the boom in homeschooling and information about their curriculum and services that help homeschool parents.

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Williamson County Parent and Talk Show Host Clay Travis Describes the ‘Mom-Led Revolution’ With Tucker Carlson

Julie Carr
Clay Travis

Fox News host Tucker Carlson welcomed Williamson County, Tennessee parent and co-host Clay Travis of The Clay Travis and Bux Sexton Show Thursday morning regarding the outpouring of parental concern as local school boards push anti-American curriculum on elementary students. Travis stated that this was a “mom-led revolution” and hinted that it will grow with speed around the country.

Carlson: The speech that you gave and God bless you for doing it. And it was entirely fact-based. The reaction from the other people in the room really struck me. What is your sense of where parents are right now with what’s happening in schools?

Travis: First, Tucker, thanks for having me.

Carlson: Of course.

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Guest Host Ben Cunningham and AFP’s Grant Henry Impressed With Tennessee Legislature, Encourage Citizens to Reach Out and Get Involved

Julie Carr

Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed Grant Henry in studio to discuss the excellence of the Tennessee legislature and the importance for citizens to become involved.

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Parents Concerned About Critical Race Theory in Schools, Poll Says

The Center Square
Parents Mad About CRT

The Biden administration has sparked controversy for endorsing elements of critical race theory in education programs, and the latest polling reveals a source of that concern.

A poll released by Convention of States Action found that many Americans are opposed to critical race theory in curriculum, and are open to removing their kids from public schools to avoid it.

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A Parent-Led Rebellion Against Critical Race Theory Is Storming School Boards Across the Country

Admin
Young girl reading a book

A parent-led rebellion against Critical Race Theory is storming school boards across the country and demanding accountability for what is being taught to American children.

At least 165 local and national groups have formed to combat Critical Race Theory (CRT) instruction in schools across the U.S., an NBC analysis found. Many of these groups were founded by parents appalled to discover what was being taught to their children. Their advocacy has launched small town CRT debates onto the national stage, spurring far-left activists and establishment media outlets to accuse conservatives of ignorance and in some cases, racism.

“Parents are right to revolt against critical race theory in the classroom,” senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and anti-CRT writer Christopher Rufo told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Children are not inherently ‘oppressors’ and should not be implicated for historical crimes on the basis of their race. That’s the kind of propaganda that belongs in a Soviet history museum—not American K-12 classrooms.”

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State Rep. Scott Cepicky and All Star Panelist Clint Brewer Advocate for Culture Changes Needed in LEA Accountability

Julie Carr

Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer and State Rep. Scott Cepicky in studio to talk about the failing educational system in many Tennessee counties and offered up some solutions.

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Tennessee Senate Approves Bill to Allow School Districts, Governor to Reopen Classes

Jason M. Reynolds

The Tennessee Legislature is looking into giving local education districts more leeway to open or shut schools during public emergencies — or the governor the power to send students back to campus.

On Monday, Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) presented Senate Bill 103 to the full Senate. The bill passed the Senate as amended, 27-5.

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JC Bowman Commentary: Selecting New School Superintendents – Dance of the Lemons or Parade of Favorites?

JC Bowman

No matter who your district hires—whether from within or bringing in an experienced educator from outside—give that new leader a chance. Don’t be afraid to hold them accountable.

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