Parental Rights News
News on parental involvement in education, student privacy, and school policy. The Daily Signal includes conservative commentary and opinion.
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analysis
Parents Can’t Escape Washington’s Transgender Policies by Changing Schools, Supreme Court Brief Argues
The Supreme Court’s recent parental rights ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta is giving new momentum to a challenge against Washington state’s transgender policies, as parents urge the nation’s highest court to block laws that create an “incentive” for gender-confused children to run away. In 2023, Washington lawmakers enacted laws allowing youth shelters to refrain from… -
news
FIRST OF ITS KIND: Civil Rights Division Tests Novel Use of Education Law to Combat Gender Secrecy Policies
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division brought a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against a Kansas school district, applying decades-old laws to combat a new problem: gender secrecy policies allowing school staff to hide a student’s claimed gender identity from parents or legal guardians. “Parental rights are paramount in the operation of America’s public schools, and Kansas City,… -
exclusive
This Disability Law May Be Parents’ Secret Weapon Against Transgender Policies in School
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The law firm America First Legal released a parental rights toolkit Tuesday, explaining how a law that protects the rights of disabled children also helps parents defend their rights when schools adopt policies hiding a child’s transgender identity from parents. “Parents hold the fundamental and constitutionally-protected right to direct the upbringing… -
news
‘There’s No Portland Exception to the Constitution’: Mom Sues School Over Trans Policies
A Christian mom asked a court for an emergency order preventing Portland Public Schools from excluding her from her daughter’s school and reversing its policy on keeping gender transitions secret from parents. Portland, Oregon, native Allison Roberts sued her school district earlier this month, alleging retaliation for her free speech in opposition to the school’s… -
exclusive
Christian Mom Who Spoke Out Against Transgender Policies Blocked From Son’s Graduation: Lawsuit
FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Christian mom is suing Portland Public Schools after officials barred her from her children’s elementary school for a year in alleged retaliation for criticizing its transgender policies. “What the district said was, ‘Be quiet, or we will take your children away from you,’ essentially—at eight hours a day, nine months… -
news
Vanessa Sivadge Shares the Story Behind America’s First-Ever Detransition Clinic
In a historic $10 million settlement, Texas Children’s Hospital agreed to open the nation’s first-ever detransition clinic by October and fire five physicians after the hospital allegedly funded gender-transition procedures using Texas Medicaid. Vanessa Sivadge, the whistleblower who sounded the alarm in May 2023, explained that working as a nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital was… -
news
Supreme Court Takes Up Case Challenging Laws That Treat ‘Non-Affirming Parents’ as Child Abusers
Can Washington state remove parental rights to enable runaway kids to access experimental transgender medical “treatments” without their parents’ knowledge or consent? The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would take up a case on this pivotal issue. In the case, a group of parents represented by International Partners for Ethical Care is challenging the… -
news
Ohio Family Group Celebrates Ruling on Social Media Age Verification Law
The Center for Christian Virtue is celebrating last week’s decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that allows an Ohio law on age verification and parental consent for those under 16 using social media to go into effect. Ohio’s Parental Notification by Social Media Operators Act, signed into law in 2023, was supposed… -
news
Just 8 House Democrats Voted for Parental Consent Pronouns Bill
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 217–198 to require federally funded elementary and middle schools to obtain parental consent before changing a student’s gender on forms or sex-based accommodations. Only eight Democrats voted for the bill. Democrat Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Cleo Fields of Louisiana, Lauren Gillen… -
opinion
‘POVERTY PALACE’: How Is the SPLC Wealthier Than the YMCA and Planned Parenthood?
These are the remarks Tyler O’Neil plans to deliver before the House Judiciary Committee in his opening statement Wednesday morning. The text may change between publication now and the testimony then. Chairman [Jim] Jordan, Ranking Member [Jamie] Raskin, members of the committee, I am honored to testify before you today. I will argue that the… -
opinion
Lawmakers Are Considering Competing Parents’ Rights Bills in North Carolina, but Only 1 Really Empowers Families
No one can say “parents’ rights” aren’t popular in North Carolina, with state lawmakers introducing more than one proposal this year to advance them. But there are stark contrasts between the competing pitches to empower parents. One bill reinforces the idea that children belong to parents first. The other is declaring open season on the… -
news
Washington State Teacher ‘Says the Quiet Part Out Loud’ on Parental Rights in Education
A high school teacher in Washington state suggested that schools should hide information about children from their parents, because kids "are not safe in this nation from their Christo-fascist parents." Kelly Love, who appears in Auburn School District's directory as "Karen Love," a teacher at Auburn High School, made the claim Thursday on Twitter. Love… -
opinion
Exposing Radical Florida Lawmaker’s Attempted Hijacking of Parental Rights
Legislation introduced in the Florida House of Representatives this month is being touted by its sponsor as a “children’s rights” bill, but it would be more accurate to call it what it is, a “usurpation of parental rights” bill. Characterizing far-left Democratic state Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby’s HB 217 as a children’s rights bill is a… -
news
Arizona Senate Panel Debates Parental Rights’ School ‘Pronouns’ Bill
The Arizona state Senate Education Committee met Wednesday to consider SB 1001, The Given Name Act, a one-page, 21-line bill that states that any individual involved in the Arizona public education system would be required to use the pronoun associated with a student’s biological sex unless the student’s public school or charter school received other… -
opinion
Amid Rise in Number of Gender-Confused Children in Maryland Schools, Parents Need Bill of Rights
If Maryland parents and lawmakers don’t act now, special-interest groups and radical gender activists will get what they want—namely, parents being removed from decision-making about their children’s education and well-being. In the past two years, Maryland’s largest public school district, Montgomery County, saw a purported 582% increase in students self-reporting as identifying as “gender nonconforming”… -
opinion
No, It’s Not the Economy, Stupid GOP. For Urban Voters, It’s Schools and Parental Rights.
Many conservatives were disappointed by the 2022 midterm election results, both nationally and here in my home state of Rhode Island. It’s important to look in the rearview mirror a bit longer to understand what happened. Now, before the next campaigns begin and new legislation is crafted, conservatives must reevaluate some of the old-school conventional… -
opinion
The Silent Majority Opposes Transgender Activism in Schools, Supports Parents’ Rights
Americans are waking up to the threat of transgender activism in schools. While President Joe Biden tries to tie school lunch money to transgender policies and California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatens to remove kids from their parents if the parents refuse to treat their boys like girls or vice versa, Americans know that schools should… -
opinion
The Left Targets Youngkin’s Transgender Education Reform Prioritizing Parental Rights
Many on the Left appear appalled at the idea that parents should have the right to know and intervene if their children “identify” as the opposite sex or seek controversial transgender medical interventions that may irreversibly harm their bodies. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, on Friday announced a new model policy on students who… -
opinion
Time to Stand for Parental Rights
Many school districts across the nation are actively resisting curriculum transparency measures and bending over backward to hide the truth about what students are being taught. As parents sound the alarm on critical race theory and gender politics in the classroom, school administrators are doing everything in their power to gaslight them—telling them that these… -
opinion
Parents Need to Know Their Rights to Reclaim America’s Schools
Starting with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread school closures, parents got a firsthand look at their children’s education through virtual instruction—and they didn’t always like what they saw happening. The parental revolt of 2021 toppled Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s gubernatorial election after he infamously quipped, “I don’t think parents should be…