The House Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Elise Stefanik, and the House Minority Whip, Rep. Steve Scalise, are at a news conference.
Interviews with Republicans show they are sharpening their attacks on education culture wars.
The Justice Department is against parents.
They think "parental involvement" in schools is a winning issue for the Republicans.
Steve Scalise sees electoral opportunities for the Republicans in the year 2022.
Education hasn't been a top priority for voters in the past, but it's different now.
"The center of the universe has changed, where parents are more aware of the fact that they can have a direct say in their children's education," said the No. 2 Republican in the House.
He said that parents have a right to be involved in their children's education.
"It seems like a lot of liberals and teachers unions are trying to get parents out of the classroom and away from the school board meetings," said Scalise.
Interviews with Republicans on Capitol Hill suggest they are sharpening their lines of attack on education culture wars, pitting Democrats, teachers unions, and even the Department of Justice against parents who want to be involved in their children's education.
They see parental involvement as an issue that can help them win majority in 2022, as they see the battles over face mask mandates, controversial books, and the teaching of race and gender playing out across the country.
Republicans are calling for a Parents Bill of Rights Act after education became a priority for Virginia voters in Glenn Youngkin's election as governor. They point to the September debate in which McAuliffe said that parents shouldn't be telling schools what to teach.
The statement helped Youngkin win because it's not what most Americans think. He said that teachers unions and liberals have hurt parents with school shutdowns, controversial teaching on race, political correctness, and "wokeness."
"I think that Republicans have a lot of issues with education," he said. We want parents to have a strong say in their children's education, and we're going to campaign on that all through 2022, and then we're going to govern that way.
The message is the same among Republican senators. "Liberals across the country have forgotten that parents are in charge of their kids and not administrators, and it has become the focal point in our country," said Scott.
The San Diego Unified School District has a vaccine mandate for students on September 28, 2021.
An intrusion by the government.
Attorney General Garland's response to the controversy has become part of the Republican messaging. They are portraying his October memo as an attack on parents.
Joe Wilson is a member of the Education and Labor Committee.
John Cornyn said the memo struck him as a huge overreach of his authority.
The memo came after the National School Boards Association apologized for asking the feds to step in against threats to education leaders. The group compared the threats to domestic terrorism and hate crimes.
The NSBA wrote a letter, but it was blamed on the Biden administration for allowing teachers unions to try to get the DOJ to go after parents for speaking out at school board meetings. He said the memo got the attention of parents on both sides of the political spectrum.
The Parents Bill of Rights calls on school districts to publicly post curriculum and for schools to give parents a list of books in the school library. Glenn Thompson, a senior member of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that the legislation is defensive because of the Biden administration's use of the FBI against parents.
Is that something that will make a difference in the election? "Yes, I believe so," he said. I think members of Congress should protect the rights of parents.
Republicans are promoting ideological issues while ignoring major concerns in education. Bobby Scott, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said he's focused on making college more affordable and making schools more efficient.
He said that people can do that if they want.
The Republicans are ignoring policy fixes that could help families. They all voted against extending the child tax credit in March.
Republicans say they're hearing from parents who learned more about what their children were being taught during the Pandemic and now they're angry about it.
Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn said that parents feel a little marginalized. The issues will be significant in 2022, but they may vary depending on location. He thinks it's a significant suburban issue.
Roger Marshall said that education issues are pushing independent women to join the Republican Party.
Marshall told Insider that he called it "Don't cross Mama bears." A lot of those people are really, really upset, because you cross a mother bear and tell her that the federal government knows more about whether their kids should be vaccine or not, or a mask or not, or what that education should look like.
"I think sometimes it's suggested that we have bad values and they don't appreciate that," said Sen. Mike Rounds.
Some parents are reacting to race-related teaching that they don't like. In North Dakota, there is a lot of concern about critical race theory. The study of racial bias in US laws and institutions is taught in college, but not in K-12 schools. Hoeven said that parents want to make sure that it's not being taught in North Dakota.
Parents' primary concern is making sure their children are in the classroom learning, but they're angry that "outward hatred of America" is being taught, either through "critical race theory" or other "far- left messages that alarmed people."
He said that they would continue to fight. We've always been the party for more parental involvement, for school choice, for more opportunities for kids and parents. There's never been more interest from parents on the political side in that kind of Republican agenda.
Business Insider has an original article.
