Dear Colleagues:
There is never a dull moment in the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation. In the past week, we mobilized to counter an outrageous decision by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate parents who speak-up to their local school boards as potentially engaging in domestic terrorism. We also highlighted the wasteful and counter-productive pre-K measures that are a central component of the Biden Administration’s $3.5 Trillion budget reconciliation proposal. Let me describe each of these activities of our Center in greater detail below.
Heritage condemns the Biden administration’s attempt to intimidate parents.
 
Jonathan Butcher and our Heritage Foundation colleague Mike Gonzalez issued a statement that condemned the Biden administration’s attempt to intimidate parents attending board meetings to advocate on behalf of their children.
 
They said, “A school board’s responsibility is to represent the families in its district, and parents and voters should be active participants in board members’ decision-making processes—on everything from curricula to COVID mandates. Biden administration officials should praise Americans for their civic participation and sense of duty, not treat them as a threat because they hold different views than radical bureaucrats.” You can read the entire statement here <[link removed]>.
 
As Jonathan and Mike noted in a piece they wrote for Fox News <[link removed]>, “If anything, it is parents who sometimes must fear vindictive reprisals or censorship by school board members. In Loudoun County, Virginia, this year, members of the school board formed a Facebook group to investigate and dox parents who dared speak against CRT. Reports from Indiana, Minnesota, Virginia, and Wisconsin to name only a few, find that board members are no longer including time on meeting agendas for or are otherwise suspending public comment.”
 
Policy disputes can get heated and people can cross the line of acceptable behavior on both sides of the issue, but that misbehavior is extremely rare and can easily be managed
by local law enforcement without the extra-chilling effect of bringing in the FBI and other federal agencies. Garland’s letter is not merely enforcing the law, it is attempting to tilt the playing field toward the radical forces that have captured local school boards and against parents who object. The Biden Administration and the National School Board Association may be surprised to discover that this oppressive gambit is likely to backfire and energize parents to redouble their efforts to control their own schools through perfectly legal means of expressing their views, running for office, and voting in elections.
 
For additional reading on this breaking issue, check out
GianCarlo Canaparo and Mike Howell’s great piece in the Daily Signal: Attorney General Garland Abuses Power He Doesn't Have to Threaten Parents <[link removed]>. I’d also commend reading this sharp analysis by AEI’s Max Eden in Newsweek: Concerned about Your Child's School? You Might Be A Domestic Terrorist <[link removed]>.
 
The Pre-K Boondoggle in Biden’s $3.5 Trillion Spending
Proposal
 
While everyone else in DC argues over the price tag, John Schoof and Lindsey Burke analyze <[link removed]> what is actually in the bill and why it is terrible news for parents and taxpayers.
 
“The
proposed $3.5 trillion spending package before Congress will continue the trend of expanding the reach of Washington into education, restricting supply and increasing costs. Parents should have maximal freedom to make the best decisions for their children, and such flexibility requires competition and a low-regulation environment free of federal mandates. Instead of spending an estimated $450 billion on new federal preschool and childcare programs—a cost that will certainly increase over time—Congress should pursue policies that reduce costs for families while expanding the early childhood education and care options available to them.”
 
In The Hill <[link removed]>, John focused on how that same legislation will actively restrict childcare and pre-K options for parents—particularly the options parents prefer. He notes, “Swaths of small, family care providers that can’t afford to comply with an avalanche of government regulations will continue to disappear.” Instead, John argues, “The best way to serve families’ childcare needs is to make it as easy as possible for entrepreneurs and innovators to give families what they want.”
 
Great Hearing
from You
 
Lastly, let me emphasize how valuable it is for us to hear from you – our colleagues, allies, and Heritage members. Jonathan Butcher and I just returned from presenting at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference 2021 <[link removed]> where we met many Heritage members. The feedback and encouragement we get from you helps keep us focused on the right issues, understand their context better, and motivates us to ensure that our work makes a difference. Thanks and please keep that feedback coming.
Warmly,
Jay
 
Jay P. Greene
Senior Research Fellow in Education
Center for Education Policy
Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation

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