Messaging & Data Lab | Center for the American Child

Big Government’s Takeover of Your Children

December 1, 2023

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THE ISSUE

Left-wing teachers’ unions, individual teachers, school administrators, school boards, and big government are taking advantage of your children. The Left has been ripping away parents’ rights for the past several years and indoctrinating the most vulnerable among us—your children—with their radical ideology. Schools are being used to push genital mutilation ideology, sexualization, the lie that men can become women and women can become men, and an anti-American agenda. Big government and their allies on the Left have systematically taken control away from parents while simultaneously labeling you a domestic terrorist for simply noticing and asking questions. Many of their actions violate existing federal statutes and are contrary to American legal tradition. These are not the government’s kids; they are yours. Now is the time to advocate for your rights, our children, and the preservation of our great country.

THE AMERICA FIRST SOLUTION

Restore the rights of parents in their child’s life and education *
Demand transparency in school curriculum
Protect women and women’s sports

Top Lines

PARENTS’ RIGHTS

The whole debate over schools controlling and indoctrinating your child with radical gender mutilation ideology, men competing against women in school sports, schools using America-hating school curriculum, and school choice really comes down to two words: parents’ rights.

The Left wants to take parents’ rights away.
The Right wants to restore and protect parents’ rights.

No parent in America needs permission from the government or a school to raise their child.

Many schools and the radical Left have pushed policies that require teachers to lie to parents.

A federal court ruled that a Maryland school district can help a child mutilate their genitals without telling his or her parents.
More than 1,000 school districts in the U.S. have policies that prohibit parents from being notified about a child’s decision to try and change his or her identity.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin implemented a rule requiring parents to be notified if their child wants to try to change genders, but a school in Fairfax County announced it wouldn’t follow this law.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to ban these kinds of parental notification policies at schools in the state.
Three New Jersey school districts adopted policies that require schools to tell parents if their child tries to change his or her identity, and New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow sued to PREVENT parents from being notified.
Parents are their child’s first teachers.
No parent should be slandered, dismissed, silenced, or jailed for wanting to play a role in their child’s life and education.

There is simply no reason why a teacher or school official should EVER have secrets with children—nor should they prevent parents from knowing what their child is doing.

They don’t want to tell you what your child is learning.
They don’t want to tell you about your child’s sexualization.
They don’t want to tell you about your child’s thoughts of self-genital mutilation.
They don’t want to let you take your children out of a failing school and send them somewhere else.

Parents’ rights should not NEED defending, but parents are being forced to rise up in the face of radical indoctrination and abuse of power by the institutions entrusted with educating their children.

The Department of Justice labels parents as “domestic terrorists” for simply asking questions about what their own child is learning in school.

The government is now making schools the place to push political and social agendas on children. This is wrong.
Public schools and state and local school boards are accountable to the taxpayer—not the other way around.

RADICAL LEFT IDEAS REGARDING GENITAL MUTILATION/SEXUALIZATION/INDOCTRINATION CURRICULUM

Leftist school administrators are openly trying to strip parents of their rights to know what is going on in their child’s life.

Across the country, parents are having to take legal action against schools that purposefully withhold information about their children and the curriculum being taught to them.
The Biden Administration openly encourages schools—and even offers them money—to help students attempt to have genital mutilation surgery WITHOUT NOTIFYING PARENTS. Leftist judges often rule against parents.

Maryland parents sought to reinstate a policy that would allow them to opt their children out of reading and discussing books with LGBTQ+ characters in elementary schools. These parents said the content violated their families’ religious beliefs. However, a leftist federal judge ruled AGAINST the parents.
A national survey by Scott Rasmussen shows that 78% of Americans said, “parents should be primarily responsible for passing on values related to sex and gender identity.”

Schools and teachers need to stop grooming our children and indoctrinating them with WOKE politics. Instead, they should get back to preparing them for life. Subjects such as reading, math, and science are being replaced with controversial race-based, America-hating rhetoric, sexualization of children, and radical gender ideology.

You simply will not believe the graphic content contained in some of these books the Left believes our children should read.
A couple of the books include graphic, pornographic descriptions of homosexual acts and intimate acts that shouldn’t be read by children, some as young as 12 years old.
Parents have tried to read passages from these books that contain graphic content at school board meetings. But the parents were silenced because the words from the books were so disgusting. If adults won’t allow other adults to hear these passages, then why would we allow kids to read them?

WARNING click here to hear some of these GRAPHIC passages read during a Senate Committee hearing by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA).

A Minnesota school district allows kindergarteners to read a book named Call Me Max about a girl who believes she is transgender and starts her transition to boyhood by changing her name, questioning what bathroom to use, and more.
 The 1619 Project is a debunked, false, race-based, America-hating narrative that is being taught as fact in more than 4,500 K-12 schools across the Nation.
In California elementary schools, third-graders are required to analyze their racial identities and then rank themselves according to their “power and privilege”  (Rufo, 2021a).  
Wake County in North Carolina hosted a conference for 200 teachers pertaining to “whiteness,” “affinity groups,” and “microaggressions.” If parents pushed back, teachers were told, “You can’t let parents deter you from the work.”
Parents should be able to raise their concerns about the material being taught in schools, and they should be treated with respect by school administrators, school board officials, and all other school employees. Parents should NOT be silenced, arrested, or labeled “domestic terrorists” by the Department of Justice.
In August 2023, a federal court in Maryland ruled parents can't opt their kids out of reading books with LGBTQ+ content. The parents argued the content in these books was a form of indoctrination that violated their families’ religious beliefs. 
A California judge blocked Chino Valley Unified School District’s newly-passed parental notification policy, which required staff to inform parents if a student identified as transgender.
A Northern Virginia school district published a document and an online survey outlining that students have the right to access any restroom that is consistent with their gender identity and do not have to disclose their sexual orientation.

RADICAL LEFTISTS PUT MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

Radical Leftists, who often preach “follow the science,” don’t believe the settled science about there being ONLY TWO genders: male and female.

This is a simple reality and settled science: men and women are different.
No amount of makeup, clothing, irrevocable genital mutilation surgeries, pills, political affirmation, public protesting, celebrity endorsements, or social media posts will change that.
School administrators and radical Left officials are pushing the lie that a man can actually become a woman simply by declaring it or checking a box on a form.
When biological men compete in women’s sports, they threaten the safety of female athletes and the integrity of women’s sports.

Allowing men to enter the women’s locker room and forcing women to change clothes in front of a male is uncomfortable at the least and dangerous at the worst.

A teenage boy in a D.C. suburb dressed in a skirt was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl classmate in the girls’ bathroom at their school. The incident was reported to the school’s woke leadership, and it took another two months to press charges against the boy. 
A 17year old girl hid in the YMCA shower after seeing a trans woman walking around in the women’s bathroom without any clothes on. The girl was concerned her 5-year-old sister would be exposed to the trans woman’s male genitalia.

The science is clear: men hold size, strength, and endurance advantages over females that make competition against each other manifestly unfair.

Males participating in women’s sports seize women’s athletic scholarships, competitive opportunities, and performance records.
Allowing men to dominate female sports deprives female athletes of a fair chance to pursue their dreams, undercuts their years of training and sacrifice, and undermines the essence of American sports.
Riley Gaines was a 12-time All-American and was named the SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the year in 2022, only to have her title stolen by a man pretending to be a woman.
A female North Carolina high school volleyball player was forced to compete against a man, and she recently suffered a concussion when the male player spiked the ball into her face, causing serious injury.
In Connecticut, two biological males finished first and second in the women’s state open finals track meet.
In California, a biological male high school student earned one of 15 spots on the girls’ varsity softball team.
A biological male defeated 14,000 women at the London Marathon after competing as a male in the New York City Marathon just a few months earlier. You’ve never seen a woman trying to compete against men. It’s always men trying to compete against women. That says it all.
Might want to add the story that just came out about the male field hockey player hitting the ball so hard it knocked a girl’s teeth out. Shocking Field Hockey Injury Sparks Fight Over Transgender Athletes (msn.com)

ALL PARENTS AND CHILDREN DESERVE SCHOOL CHOICE

Parents should have control over their child’s education—NOT the government.

No child should be forced to attend a school because of their parent’s income or zip code.

A new report shows in 23 Baltimore City Public Schools, ZERO students tested proficient in math in 2022.
Last year, only about 7% of third- through eighth-graders in Baltimore City Public Schools met grade-level expectations in math.

Children should NEVER be FORCED to stay in a failing school.

School boards, administrators, and teachers’ unions have been consistently trampling on parents’ rights for years.

While student scores in reading and math dropped to the lowest point in decades, liberals in lockstep with teachers’ unions actively worked to stop parents from choosing the best school for their children.

Radical leftist teachers’ union officials don’t want parents to be able to choose the best school for their children, but they continue sending their own children to private schools instead of public schools.
All parents should have a choice of where to send their children so they can receive an education that best fits their individual interests and learning needs.
School choice often leads to better results for students, and it also restores control of a child’s education to parents, who are the people best suited for making decisions about which schools are best for their children.
A study of Washington, D.C.’s opportunity scholarship program found a 21% increase in high school graduation rates for its students.
A study of Florida’s Scholarship Program found a 12%-19% increase in college enrollment and a 10%-20% increase in the probability of receiving a bachelor’s degree.

How to Respond If Pressed:

Parents who don’t have a background, training, or education should not be deciding how or what is taught in schools…leave that to the experts.

Parents are the first and most important teachers in the life of their child. Parents have a right to know what is going on with their child at school and to review the curriculum, ask questions, be involved, and ensure their children are being taught appropriate subjects. 

Conservatives should celebrate books, not ban them.

This has nothing to do with banning books. It is about making sure that children aren’t exposed to inappropriate content for their age. Sexualized, pornographic material has no business being available to elementary and middle school students. School boards refuse to allow parents even to read from these books at their meetings. If the content is too graphic for adults to hear, why is it not too graphic for young children? Parents have a right to know what books are being made available to their children and to demand schools take steps to keep inappropriate material away from their children.

Radical liberals say parents’ rights advocates are anti-LGBTQ+

This has nothing to do with LGBTQ+ issues. Parents have a right to know what is being taught to their children. They have a right to know what is going on with their children, whether that involves their identity, grades, discipline, or any factor that involves their child.

Radical liberals say laws prohibiting children from being surgically or medically mutilated, even with their parents’ permission, are anti-LGBTQ+.

NONSENSE. The government regularly sets limits on certain activities for minors, regardless of their parents’ consent. Children under 16 cannot drive. People under 18 can’t vote. Minors under the age of 21 cannot legally drink alcohol. It doesn’t matter if the child is physically or mentally considered “mature” enough or not. The government sets the limits.

Myth Busters

MYTH: The political nature of the Nation’s public K-12 curriculum is exaggerated and an illegitimate concern.
TRUTH: The rise of “wokeness” and ideas such as the racist misteaching of American history have brought these race-centric concepts and policies into thousands of schools across the country.

MYTH: Allowing biological males in intimate women’s spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms has not created opportunities for sexual assault, including rape.
TRUTH: A male student raped a 15-year-old girl in the girls’ bathroom in 2021 at Stone Bridge High School, and the school district tried to cover up.

MYTH: Barring transgender girls in women’s sports and transgender ideology in classrooms are examples of an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.
TRUTH: Barring both prioritizes female and child safety, limiting health complications at a young age and protecting children from being manipulated behind their parents’ backs.

MYTH: Requiring parental notification of a child receiving transgender medication or identification is unnecessary and far-reaching.
TRUTH: The government consistently sets age restrictions and requires parental notification for minors when they take pain relievers from the school nurse, complete field trip waivers, obtain a driver’s license, or consume alcohol.

MYTH: Political activism in classrooms is opposed only by a minority of right-wing extremists.
TRUTH: In a poll from Parents Defending Education, 80% of Americans opposed the use of classrooms to promote political activism. The overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want students taught political propaganda that says America is structurally racist or indoctrinated with anti-scientific ideas. These teachings include the ideas that there is no such thing as biological sex, that white students are inherently privileged and oppressors toward other minority groups, and/or that America’s founding is rooted in racism.

Quick Stats

Public elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. spend $870 billion a year.
This amounts to an average of $17,013 per public school student.
As of 2023, there are 15 Education Savings Account (ESA) programs across 13 states.
The number of students who have accessed equal opportunity in education through ESAs increased by 200% from 2022 to 2023—– the largest increase ever.
There are 25 education voucher programs across 16 states—312,443 students are recipients of those vouchers.
31 states (plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) offer families K–12 programs that help them access options such as private school or a customized education that fits their needs.
In 2020, it was estimated that more than 4,500 schools nationwide taught the radical Left’s debunked 1619 Project in their curriculum.
53% of youth who identify as “transgender and nonbinary” considered suicide in 2022, but data shows sex change operations do not reduce the risk.
High suicide risk persisted after sex-reassignment surgeries at a rate 19.1 times higher than the general population in a 40-year study in Sweden.
Substance use is 4 times higher for youth who identify as “transgender” compared to their peers.
Almost one-third of youth who identify as “transgender” have reported being a victim of sexual violence.
From 2017-2021, there was a 120% increase in U.S. patients ages 6-17 who initiated puberty blocker “treatment.”
From 2017-2021, there was a 178% increase in new diagnoses of gender dysphoria in the U.S. among patients ages 6-17.
Only 12–27% of children with gender dysphoria carry it into adulthood.

Polling

Polling on the Radical Left’s Ideas Regarding Genital Mutilation/Sexualization/Indoctrination Curriculum

Suppose a boy tells his teacher or school official that he wants to identify as a girl. Should the teacher or school notify the parents?
- 71% | Yes
- 13% | No
- 16% | Not sure

At what grade level, if any, is it appropriate for schools to teach children that they can change their gender?
- 6% | Elementary School (Grades K-5)
- 11% | Middle School (Grades 6-8)
- 19% | High School (Grades 9-12)
- 64% | It is never appropriate.

Who should be primarily responsible for passing on values related to sex and gender identity?
- 78% | Parents
- 6% | Teachers
- 4% | School administrators
- 4% | School boards
- 8% | Not sure

Is conducting gender-transition surgery on children a form of child abuse?
- 59% | Yes
- 19% | No
- 22% | Not sure

Some people advocate that children should be allowed to receive “gender-affirming care,” including puberty blockers and surgery, without the permission of their parents. Do you agree?
- 9% | Strongly agree
- 13% | Somewhat agree
- 13% | Somewhat disagree
- 56% | Strongly disagree
- 9% | Not sure

Suppose a child wants to have gender transition surgery or puberty blockers, but his or her parents will not allow it. Should the government be allowed to take the child away from the parents and place him or her under the care of the state’s Child Protective Services?
- 17% | Yes
- 72% | No
- 11% | Not sure

Should books like the following be allowed in middle and high school libraries?
- Books that include visual depictions of the sexualization of young boys and multiple scenes of pedophilia between boys and adult men
  - 16% | Yes
  - 73% | No
  - 11% | Not Sure

A book describing a series of encounters that take place at midnight in a back alley involving racial slurs, the sexualization of a 14-year-old girl, and outright misogyny
- 20% | Yes
- 67% | No
- 12% | Not Sure

Polling On The Radical Left’s Push To Put Men In Women’s Sports

Some biological males who identify as women have been allowed to compete in women’s sports. In such competitions, do biological males have an unfair advantage over biological females?
- 67% | Yes
- 17% | No
- 16% | Not sure

Should biological males who identify as women be allowed to compete in women’s sports events?
- 21% |Yes
- 64% | No
- 15% | Not sure

Polling On How All Parents And Children Deserve School Choice

If parents are unhappy with the public school their children attend, should they be allowed to send their children to a different public school at no additional cost?
- 76% | Yes
- 13% | No
- 11% | Not sure

Parents should be able to see all curriculum plans and materials for classes their children take.
- 82% | Agree
- 12% | Disagree

Who should have the greatest say in what children are taught: parents, teachers, school administrators, or school boards?
- 53% | Parents
- 20% | Teachers
- 8% | School administrators
- 10% | School boards
- 10% | Not sure