The School District of the Chathams Board of Education has agreed to permanently abandon a policy that allowed school staff to hide a child’s “gender transition” from parents. The agreement ends a federal lawsuit Thomas More Society filed in August on behalf of Moms for Liberty. Under a settlement agreement filed 10/15/26 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the board will not readopt Policy 5145.7 or any derivative policy, and every current and future district employee will receive a copy of the agreement. That agreement commits the district to honor the parental rights recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor.

“The parents behind this case endured doxxing and harassment simply for asking their school district to respect their role as their children’s primary educators,” said Tina Descovich, CEO and Co-Founder of Moms for Liberty. “Their perseverance has secured a promise that protects every family in the Chathams, and we hope school boards across the country take note. Moms for Liberty will keep standing with parents in every district that tries to come between them and their children.”

“No school has the authority to transition a child behind his or her parents’ backs, and the Supreme Court made that unmistakably clear in Mirabelli. This board told New Jersey parents the ruling didn’t apply to them, kept its secret transition policy on the books, and forced families to go to federal court to protect their own children,” said Christopher Ferrara, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society.

“Now that policy is gone for good, every teacher and counselor in the district will receive a copy of the board’s written commitment to respect parents’ rights. Districts that choose to still hide children’s gender transitions from their parents can follow the Chathams’ lead and change course now, or they can explain themselves to a federal judge,” added Ferrara.

The board approved the settlement 7–0 at its October 12 meeting. It agreed that any future policy adopted or mandated by the State would be “compliant with United States Supreme Court precedent.”

The settlement marks a sharp reversal. At a June board meeting, Board President, Ann Ciccarelli, declared that “the United States Supreme Court decision Mirabelli is not binding on public school districts in New Jersey.” Adopted in 2024, the policy let a school counselor decide “whether, and to what extent, parents/guardians can be involved” once a student asked to be treated as the opposite sex. It also falsely claimed that New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education required districts to accept a student’s asserted gender identity “regardless of parent consent or involvement.”

After the Chathams School District received Thomas More Society’s demand letter, the board began the process of dropping the policy but it was only after suit was filed that the District agreed in writing that neither the policy, nor any derivative of the policy, would be adopted again.

“Under Supreme Court precedent in the Fikre case and related decisions, merely dropping a challenged policy due to litigation is not enough,” said Ferrara. “It must be absolutely clear that the policy will not return once the suit is over. And now it is clear.”

Thomas More Society won Mirabelli v. Bonta at the U.S. Supreme Court in March, in a 6–3 decision holding that school policies concealing a child’s gender transition from parents violate their constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The victory in New Jersey is only the beginning. Moms for Liberty recently announced the use of a new artificial intelligence program (M4L AWARE) to help members identify issues on local school board agendas nationwide. The goal is to give parents more insight and impact on school board policies than ever before, so secret gender transition policies, like the one in New Jersey, get exposed earlier and brought into the light.

Click to help us end secret student gender policies! 

RELATED CONTENT:

Read more: Daily Wire breaks the news New Jersey drops secret gender policy

Read more on M4L AWARE

The post PARENTS WIN: NJ School District Drops Secret Gender Transition Policy After Lawsuit appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

Today at the Moms for Liberty National Summit, CEO & Co-founder Tina Descovich announced the deployment of a new artificial intelligence program monitoring school board agendas across more than 13,000 school districts nationwide. M4L AWARE, which stands for “Agenda Watch, Alert, Respond, Engage,” will now equip our members across the country with detailed information about local school board topics and votes before the votes occur.

“The Biden admin targeted our parents for showing up to school board meetings, but we were just getting started,” Tina Descovich, Moms for Liberty co-founder and CEO, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Wait and see what happens when parents receive timely information about what is being discussed at their school board meetings.”

Fox News Digital has more on this as they first broke the story here: https://www.foxnews.com/media/moms-liberty-unleashes-ai-watchdog-13000-school-districts-flag-controversial-policies-votes

The post School Boards Put On Notice appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

The 2026 Joyful Warriors National Summit kicks off Friday morning with the Boots on the Ground Breakfast, featuring Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Watch the livestream of selected general sessions here: WATCH THE SUMMIT LIVESTREAM

In the Dallas area? Certain tickets may still be available here: GET TICKETS

Thank you to all our sponors!

The post 2026 National Summit appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

Parents are the primary decision-makers in the lives of their children. From education and healthcare to technology and entertainment, parents – not corporations, government bureaucracies, or media executives – have the responsibility to determine what is appropriate for their children. That is why Moms for Liberty is encouraging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to urge the TV Parental Guidelines Oversight Monitoring Board (TVOMB) to modernize television content ratings and give parents greater transparency, choice, and confidence when navigating children’s media.

The Media Landscape Has Changed. The Ratings System Should Too.

The television ratings system was created to give parents information about the programming entering their homes. Parents are already alerted to content involving violence, sexual situations, foul language, and other mature themes, but the way children consume entertainment has changed dramatically. Children now move seamlessly between traditional television, streaming platforms, tablets, phones, and on-demand programming. At the same time, children’s entertainment increasingly incorporates social and cultural themes that many families may consider sensitive, controversial, or inconsistent with their values.

The ratings system has not adequately kept pace.

Parents deserve meaningful information about all significant content their children may encounter—not just the categories the entertainment industry has traditionally chosen to identify.

New Research Shows Why Transparency Matters

Recent research from Concerned Women for America (CWA) illustrates the scope of the issue.

In December 2025, CWA released an analysis of 326 Netflix series rated for young audiences—TV-G, TV-Y, and TV-Y7. Researchers examined the programs for LGBTQ+ characters, themes, storylines, or messaging. CWA reported that 33% of the children’s series it reviewed contained such content. The percentage increased to 41% among G-rated series and 41% among TV-Y7-rated series. CWA’s research also identified a significant increase among more recently introduced programming. Of the children’s programs in its dataset that launched on Netflix in 2023, 14 contained LGBTQ+ content while nine did not.

The concern for parents is not simply that this content exists. The issue is whether parents are given adequate information to know it is there before their children encounter it.

A TV-G or TV-Y7 designation may tell a parent the general age group for which a program has been rated, but it does not necessarily tell a family whether that program contains discussions or depictions involving gender identity, sexual orientation, same-sex relationships, or related themes. That distinction matters.

Families may reach very different conclusions about what programming is appropriate for their children. But they cannot exercise meaningful choice when the information necessary to make that choice is missing.

Transparency Is Not Censorship

Moms for Liberty is not calling for controversial programming to be banned. Nor are we asking the government to determine which viewpoints families may or may not watch.

We are asking for transparency. A trustworthy ratings system should provide parents with objective, understandable information before their children encounter content. That includes meaningful notice when children’s programming addresses subjects such as gender identity, sexual orientation, and related social themes. When parents know what a program contains, they can decide for themselves whether it is appropriate for their child and consistent with their family’s priorities, beliefs, convictions, and developmental expectations. When important information is omitted or obscured, however, the ratings system can become a Trojan Horse, allowing controversial themes to reach young audiences without parents having meaningful notice beforehand. This undermines the very purpose of parental ratings.

Better Information for Parents Through a Reformed Ratings System

CWA’s research was followed in June 2026 by a Zogby Analytics poll commissioned by the organization examining parents’ views of children’s television ratings.

According to the poll, 87.1% of participating parents said it was either very important or somewhat important for children’s programs to include labels advising parents about content they might want to avoid—including violence, sexual content, and sensitive themes such as LGBTQ+ messaging or characters. That finding underscores a straightforward principle: parents want information so they can make decisions for themselves. A modern ratings system should provide it.

Three Principles for Reform

Moms for Liberty believes a modernized ratings system should be built around three principles: transparency, consistency, and accountability.

Transparency means parents receive clear and understandable information about significant themes and subject matter contained in programming intended for children and adolescents.

Consistency means families should receive comparable information regardless of whether a program is watched through broadcast television, cable, satellite, or a streaming service.

Accountability means the ratings process should incorporate perspectives beyond the entertainment industry itself. Parents, child-development professionals, educators, and other independent stakeholders should have meaningful representation in determining whether the system is actually serving families.

Modernization should also include stronger content descriptors, more effective parental-control technology, and greater independent oversight of ratings practices.

More Information Means More Parental Choice

There is an important distinction between restricting content and identifying content. Providing parents with additional information does not prohibit a television program from being produced, it does not prevent an adult from watching it, and it does not require every family to reach the same conclusion about whether the content is appropriate. What it does do, is that it simply allows parents to make that decision before someone else makes it for them – that is parental choice.

Parents routinely receive information that helps them make decisions for their children. Media should be no different. If parents can be alerted to violence, sexual content, or foul language, they should also be able to identify other significant themes they may want to consider before allowing their children to watch. Families may ultimately make different choices, but the important point is that those choices belong to families.

Put Parents Back at the Center

As entertainment options continue to evolve, the guiding principle of the ratings system should remain simple: empower parents.

Entertainment companies have their own creative, commercial, and institutional priorities, but parents have something entirely different – the responsibility to raise their children.

That is why parents must remain in the driver’s seat.

Moms for Liberty encourages the FCC, TVOMB, and the entertainment industry to modernize the ratings system so families have clear information, consistent standards, meaningful parental controls, and confidence that children’s content will not bypass parental awareness.

Transparency is not censorship. It is parental empowerment. Parents deserve to know what their children are watching while possessing the tools to make informed choices. In other words, parents – not the entertainment industry – should have the final say.

Charlie Misseijer is the Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs at Moms for Liberty and one of the speakers at the Moms for Liberty National Summit 2026 this October 8-11. 

The post Parents Deserve to Know: It’s Time to Modernize Children’s TV Ratings appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

Happy Constitution Day! It’s not widely celebrated, but it should be.

Every year on September 17, America observes Constitution Day, commemorating the signing of the United States Constitution in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787. After months of debate and compromise, delegates to the Constitutional Convention produced a framework for government that begins with three remarkable words: “We the People.”

The Constitution established the structure of our federal government, divided power among its branches, and created a system designed to restrain government power while allowing a nation of free people to govern themselves.

Most of us take it for granted today. We truly do not realize how unique this document was in the history of the world.

But here’s what’s troubling: too many Americans know far too little about it.

According to the NAEP report card only 13% of eighth grade students are proficient in U.S. history. A previous Gallup poll also said young people are also less patriotic than ever.

We Can’t Preserve What We Don’t Understand

Understanding our founding documents helps Americans understand where government gets its authority, what limits are placed on that authority, and the responsibilities citizens carry in a self-governing republic.

That understanding matters for adults, and it is especially important for the next generation.

For years, Moms for Liberty members across the country have helped put HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of copies of the Constitution directly into the hands of Americans in their communities through our partnership with the 917 Society.

It’s a simple act with an important purpose: encouraging adults and students alike to read the document for themselves, discuss it, and understand the principles upon which our nation was built.

In fact, Moms for Liberty members personally delivered 200,000 pocket Constitutions to middle school students in just 2025 alone!

We cannot expect young people to appreciate their country, understand their rights, or defend their freedoms if they have never been taught the Constitution and the history behind it. Civic education should extend beyond memorizing dates for a test and our hope is that every child will understand the ideas that shaped the United States of America and have a physical copy of our founding documents to read, study, and call their own.

Hear From the Founders Themselves

Knowing the Constitution is important. But Americans should also understand the ideas, debates, and people behind it.

The Constitution did not emerge from unanimous agreement. The Constitutional Convention was filled with serious disagreements over the proper structure and powers of the new government. And after the Constitution was signed, Americans continued debating its merits during the ratification process. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay famously entered that debate through the essays that became known as The Federalist Papers.

Those debates are worth rediscovering.

So are the voices of the Founding Fathers and Founding Mothers whose words can help Americans better understand the principles, sacrifices, disagreements, and convictions that shaped our country.

That is why Moms for Liberty is excited to relaunch the Madison Movement.

Rediscover America with the Madison Movement

The Madison Movement is about reconnecting Americans with the wisdom of our founding generation and making that history accessible to families today.

And you don’t need to become a constitutional scholar to get started.

You just need a minute.

Through our Madison Minutes, we’re bringing short, engaging pieces of American history directly to you, giving parents, students, and everyday Americans an opportunity to learn something about our founding and then share it with someone else.

Imagine what could happen if more families spent just a few minutes talking about the Constitution around the dinner table.

Imagine if more children recognized names like Madison, Washington, Adams, Franklin, and the remarkable women who helped shape America’s founding era, not simply as names in a textbook, but as real people wrestling with timeless questions about liberty, government, responsibility, and human nature.

That is how we keep our history alive.

Take a Madison Minute This Constitution Day

Constitution Day doesn’t require fireworks, parades, or presents.

But it does deserve our attention.

So today, if you can’t hand out copies of the Constitution, take a few minutes to read part of the Constitution. Talk about it with your children. Share something you learned with a friend.

And, at a minimum, celebrate Constitution Day with a Madison Minute.

Because preserving Liberty begins with understanding how we have it in the first place.

“As the people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived…”
—James Madison, Federalist No. 49, February 5, 1788

The post This Constitution Day: Take a Minute to Remember What Makes America Exceptional appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

There is a void in America without his voice.  A voice that no one seems able to fill in quite the same way. His impact on our culture and our country will be felt for generations.

Charlie used his voice to speak truth. He used it to challenge people in their beliefs and their thinking. And he used his voice to stand with us when Moms for Liberty was a new and much smaller organization, fighting back against attacks coming from every direction.

I know many of you have been watching Charlie’s videos and speeches online as a way to reconnect with him and honor his words and his work. As I’ve reflected on this anniversary, I want to share another way I’ve found to remember him.

I was recently given an advance copy of The Intellect of Charlie Kirk: A Collection of Writings, Ideas, and Stories from a Transformative American to review.

Reading it has been an incredibly powerful way to rediscover Charlie’s many talents—and, more importantly, to remember his heart for reaching people through persuasion, conversation, and dialogue rather than violence.

I’m sharing this with you because, as I write, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Dallas at the Midterm Convention. I’m exhausted, but I can’t put the book down.

It has been a long day of meetings, conversations, listening, and strategizing about the future of our elections and our country. As I read, I can’t help but imagine Charlie here—with his seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm—engaging in exactly the kinds of conversations captured in these pages.

In some ways, reading his words has been even more meaningful than watching his videos again. The book allows you to sit with his ideas and hear his voice in a different way.

The introduction includes these words from Charlie:

“So, sit back, grab a coffee and perhaps reading glasses, and share my journey over the past several years. I thank you for your support and your interest. Nothing I’m trying to accomplish matters without both.”

— Charlie Kirk, December 11, 2019

Today will be hard for many people who cared about Charlie.

It will be hard for those who knew him personally. It will be hard for those who never met him but tuned in every day to hear his take on the latest issues. And it will be especially difficult for those gathering in Utah to remember him at the very place where his life was taken.

I will spend today here in Dallas trying, in my own sometimes-feeble way, to carry a portion of the torch he held.

At Moms for Liberty, we share many of the concerns Charlie was passionate about and many of the values that guided his work.

We hold three values especially close to our hearts:

We Stand for Truth.
We Build Relationships.
We Empower Others.

Charlie embodied those values.

His voice was silenced in the most brutal and final way. For many of us, it felt as though a piece of something larger had been taken with him.

But the more I think about Charlie today, the more I find myself filled not only with sadness, but with gratitude and resolve.

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know Charlie.

I am grateful that he left behind so much of his work—words, speeches, ideas, debates, and conversations that can and will continue to influence people and remind another generation of the importance of preserving Western civilization.

I am grateful to live in the United States of America, where we still have the freedom and opportunity to stand up, speak out, and fight for our children and our country.

And I am deeply grateful to do this work alongside all of you.

As I said at this time last year, I say again today:

We will hold high the torch of Liberty and continue the work we have been called to do.

We will stand for truth. We will build relationships. We will empower others. And we will refuse to surrender our voices because someone tried to silence his.

The future of our children and our country depends on it.

RELATED: Watch Moms for Liberty present the organization’s highest honor, the Liberty Sword Award, posthumously to Charlie Kirk

The post Remembering Charlie Kirk appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

That is the disturbing conclusion of a new report released by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The report, Corrupting Our Classrooms: How America’s Teachers’ Unions Are Failing Our Students, details how the National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have prioritized political activism, radical ideology, and partisan influence over the education of America’s children.

For parents across the country, these findings are not surprising. Families have watched academic standards decline while schools devote more time and resources to divisive political causes. They have seen powerful unions resist transparency, attack parental rights, and attempt to place themselves between parents and their children.

Now, a congressional report is documenting just how far these unions have strayed from their stated mission.

Children Are Falling Behind While Teachers Unions Play Politics

The academic crisis is undeniable. According to the report, one in three eighth-grade students scored below the basic achievement level in reading in 2024. Reading performance among 13-year-olds remains below pre-pandemic levels, and student reading habits have deteriorated dramatically.

Yet instead of making literacy, math, and classroom excellence their highest priorities, the NEA and AFT have poured enormous resources into politics and ideological advocacy. The HELP Committee found that the two unions have spent nearly $670 million on political and social advocacy since 2015.

That tells parents everything they need to know about their priorities.

Children need schools focused on teaching them how to read, write, calculate, reason, and become responsible citizens. They do not need classrooms turned into training grounds for political activists.

Undermining Parents Is Part of the Agenda

Perhaps most alarming is the report’s evidence that the NEA has encouraged educators to work around protections for parental rights.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mahmoud v. Taylor that parents must be given notice and the opportunity to opt their children out of certain instruction that conflicts with their religious beliefs, the NEA published guidance CRITICIZING the decision and advising schools on how to respond.

This reflects a dangerous belief at the heart of the education establishment: that government institutions and union activists know better than parents.

They do not.

Parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Schools should never hide information from families, circumvent parental safeguards, or treat parents as obstacles to a political agenda.

Ideology Has Infiltrated Every Subject

The report also describes union-supported materials that promote gender ideology to children as young as four and inject immigration, deportation, race, and other political issues into math instruction. It documents materials that characterize political opponents as racist and transphobic and offer strategies to “mobilize” progressive constituencies and “marginalize” opposition.

This is not education. It is political organizing conducted with access to other people’s children.

The report also raises grave concerns about antisemitic classroom materials, including resources that deny or distort the atrocities of October 7, erase Israel from maps, and portray Jews and Americans through hostile political propaganda. No Jewish student, teacher, or family should encounter antisemitism promoted under the banner of education.

It Is Time for Accountability

Senator Cassidy is calling for greater transparency into union finances and political activity, along with congressional review of whether the NEA’s activities remain consistent with the federal charter it received to “promote the cause of education.” Those are necessary steps.

But parents cannot wait for Washington to solve this crisis.

Start by helping us repeal the NEA charter. You can add your name to the effort below.

Click here to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the NEA Charter Repeal Act

We must continue attending school board meetings, examining curricula, demanding transparency, supporting courageous teachers, and electing leaders who understand that parents—not unions, bureaucrats, or political organizations—have the primary authority over their children.

Moms for Liberty will continue exposing indoctrination, defending parental rights, and fighting for schools that educate rather than politicize.

The message from parents is clear: Teach our children the fundamentals. Respect our rights as parents. Keep political activism out of the classroom.

Read the HELP Committee announcement and the full committee report.

The post Senate Report Exposes the Truth: Teachers’ Unions Have Abandoned Student Success appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

Moms for Liberty has filed a federal lawsuit against the School District of the Chathams Board of Education in New Jersey, challenging a district policy that allows school officials to keep a child’s gender transition secret from his or her parents.

Represented by Thomas More Society, Moms for Liberty is asking a federal court to declare the district’s Policy 5145.7 unconstitutional and stop its enforcement unless significant changes are made.

A Policy That Keeps Parents in the Dark

According to the lawsuit, the Chathams policy allows school counselors to withhold information about a student’s asserted gender transition from parents.

But it goes even further.

The lawsuit alleges that the policy permits students to adopt new names and pronouns at school without parental notice or consent; allows participation in sports, locker rooms, and changing facilities based on gender identity; and allows students to be referred to outside LGBTQ advocacy organizations without their parents’ knowledge.

The policy can also subject students to discipline for refusing to use another student’s chosen name or pronouns, raising serious concerns about students’ First Amendment rights.

“Parents are the primary educators and caregivers of their children, not school boards, not counselors, and not ideologues pushing secret gender transitions behind closed doors,” said Moms for Liberty CEO and Co-Founder Tina Descovich.

“Moms for Liberty will not stand by while schools hide life-altering decisions from parents or persuade children to affirm an ideology that violates their conscience and faith. We are proud to partner with the Thomas More Society to defend parental rights in New Jersey and across America.”

The Supreme Court Has Already Weighed In

The lawsuit comes after important recent victories for parental rights at the U.S. Supreme Court, including Mirabelli v. Bonta, won by the Thomas More Society earlier this year.

In Mirabelli v. Bonta, the Supreme Court blocked enforcement of California policies that allowed schools to conceal information about a child’s gender transition from parents. The Court concluded that the policies likely violated parents’ constitutional rights and criticized policies that “cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.”

“When Thomas More Society prevailed at the Supreme Court, we made a promise: any school board or district that kept hiding a child’s so-called ‘gender transition’ from parents, or that punished kids for refusing to bow down to an ideology they don’t believe, would be held accountable,” said Christopher Ferrara, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society.

Yet according to the complaint, Chathams Board of Education President Ann Ciccarelli told the public during a June 15 board meeting that the Supreme Court’s Mirabelli decision was “not binding on public school districts in New Jersey.”

The district was given an opportunity to change its policy.

It didn’t.

So now we’re going to court.

Standing Up When School Districts Refuse to Listen

The mission of Moms for Liberty is to defend parental rights at all levels of government. That mission doesn’t stop at school board meetings or state capitols.

Across America, parents are asking for something that shouldn’t be controversial: transparency, accountability, and the right to direct the upbringing and education of their own children.

When those rights are respected, we’ll applaud it.

When they’re ignored, we’ll speak up.

And when necessary, we’ll fight for them in court.

TAKE ACTION: Help us keep up the fight for parental rights at all levels of government

The post Moms for Liberty Sues Over Secret Gender Transition Policy appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

School board races are ground zero in the fight for parental rights. They will determine things like:

• What your children are taught when it comes to sexuality, gender, America, and many other topics currently infected by activists pushing radical ideologies.
• What education polices are created or enforced, and what gets hidden or exposed to parents.
• What way your community gets shaped by far-left teachers unions or the SPLC.

That’s why one of the many arenas where Moms for Liberty works and fights is in helping good candidates win their school board races.

• Since 2021, we’ve had 500+ school board wins across America!
• And as of last night, we continue the momentum with 11 more victories in 15 races!

Seven endorsed candidates won their races outright. Four more advanced to the general election.

In Clay County, all three Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates, Ashley Hutchings Gilhousen, Michele Hanson, and Erin Skipper, won outright. In Collier County, Timothy Moshier and Jeff Donaldson both won. In Lee County, Jada Langford-Fleming won her race and Tony Beougher advanced.

In Brevard County, all three endorsed candidates won or advanced: Megan Wright won her District 1 race outright, while Gene Trent and Tammy Dennis both advanced.

August is shaping up to be a month of WINNING and MOMENTUM for parental rights

Earlier this month 2 more school board wins were secured in Tennessee! Lee Ann Eaves and Stephen Triplett in Knox County Schools.

Every year someone in the media writes our obituary, and every year parents show up and prove them wrong.

These are moms and dads and neighbors who knocked doors and made calls and won, and no consultant or professor quoted in a newspaper gets to tell them they don’t exist.

These victories don’t happen by accident, either.

They are the result of parents and volunteers knocking on doors, making phone calls, sharing information, showing up at meetings, and refusing to sit on the sidelines.

They are the result of your gifts and support.

They are what happens when parents organize and vote.

To every candidate, volunteer, chapter leader, member, and parent who showed up—THANK YOU! Your courage and commitment are making a difference.

The post Moms for Liberty-Endorsed Candidates Win Big appeared first on Moms for Liberty.

We do NOT co-parent with the government.

And this week we had a lot to celebrate.

From childhood vaccine policy, to accountability at the Southern Poverty Law Center, to major proposed reforms of Head Start, the federal government took significant actions that could shift power away from bureaucracy and back toward states, local communities and parents.

President Trump, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Attorney General Todd Blanche are shaping an administration that is making parental authority a central part of federal policy.

More Choice for Parents on Childhood Vaccines

President Trump’s administration has moved to overhaul the federal approach to childhood vaccine recommendations, with the stated goals of aligning the U.S. schedule with other developed nations, preserving access to vaccines, protecting religious liberty while giving parents and physicians greater flexibility.

The administration’s policy directs federal health officials to consider greater flexibility in the timing and sequencing of routine childhood immunizations and explicitly states that federal agencies must fulfill legal obligations involving parental authority and religious freedom.

For parents this matters.

America’s childhood vaccine schedule has expanded dramatically over the past several decades, and the administration’s review concluded that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than any peer nation.

For us at Moms for Liberty this isn’t simply a health-care debate. When vaccine requirements are tied to whether your child can attend school, they become an education and parental rights issue.

Importantly, federal action does not automatically eliminate state vaccination requirements for school attendance. Those requirements are largely governed by state law. But the administration has made clear that parental authority, religious liberty, and existing legal protections should be respected as federal vaccine policy is reconsidered.  That is an important shift in philosophy because parents should be part of the decision-making process, not treated as an obstacle to it.

Serious Allegations Against the SPLC

On August 12, former Southern Poverty Law Center CFO Heidi Beirich was indicted as part of the Justice Department’s expanding criminal case involving the organization.

Beirich previously led the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, which tracked organizations the SPLC classified as hate and extremist groups. Federal prosecutors have charged her with conspiracy involving wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and concealment money laundering. And the allegations are stunning.

Prosecutors allege that SPLC donor funds were secretly used to pay extremist organizations and that financial arrangements were concealed from donors and banks. The indictment also alleges that Beirich had a romantic relationship with one informant and shared a home and bank accounts with him; prosecutors allege roughly $140,000 flowed into a joint account during that relationship.

For Moms for Liberty, this story hits close to home. The SPLC has used its enormous platform and resources to label organizations, including ours in ways that have caused tremendous damage. The SPLC’s labeling system has become politicized and is used against Americans engaged in legitimate public-policy debates.  Organizations that appoint themselves arbiters of who is hateful, dangerous, or extremist should be held to an extraordinarily high standard of transparency and integrity.

Putting Parents Back in the Driver’s Seat at Head Start

There was more encouraging news for parents this week.

The Trump administration has proposed a major overhaul of Head Start, the federal preschool program serving vulnerable children and families.

This issue is personal to me.

I previously served on the governing board of a Head Start program in my home county of Brevard County, Florida. I have seen what an award-winning Head Start program can look like and the tremendous impact it can have on children and families.

But Head Start has also become burdened by layers of federal regulation.

HHS’s proposed “Reducing Federal Burden for Head Start Programs” rule seeks to change that by reducing federal requirements, giving states and local programs more flexibility, and redirecting resources toward serving children.

The administration estimates the reforms could save approximately $2.2 billion and preserve or expand as many as 236,000 Head Start slots.  Every dollar unnecessarily spent on bureaucratic paperwork is a dollar that isn’t being spent helping a child.

The proposal would make several major changes, including reducing administrative overhead, shifting greater authority over some program requirements to states, strengthening nutrition standards, establishing physical-activity requirements, and maintaining a significant role for parents and families.

As a mom, there is a lot here that I like. The program helps set parents up for success by keeping them engaged in their child’s education from the start.  The rule will cut unnecessary red tape, give states and local communities more flexibility, serve real, nutrient-dense food instead of processed junk and get little kids up and moving every day.

Most importantly the rule reinforces that parents are children’s first and most important teachers.

Healthy bodies help build healthy minds, and strong families build strong children.

Head Start was created to help vulnerable children and strengthen families. Reform should bring the program closer to that mission.

The proposed rule is now going through the public-comment process, giving parents and citizens an opportunity to make their voices heard. I encourage all parents to submit a comment here.

The Common Thread: Trust Parents

Three very different stories unfolded this week, but I see one question being answered in all of them,  Who should have the greatest authority over America’s children?

For too long, government institutions and powerful organizations have behaved as though experts, bureaucrats, and political institutions know better than parents.

We disagree.

Parents have the God-given fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children. This incudes medical care and education.

Parents should be able to participate in public-policy debates about their children without being demonized or silenced by powerful organizations.

That is what our mission of defending parental rights at all levels of government is ultimately about. Government has an important role. Doctors have an important role. Teachers have an important role. Community organizations have an important role.

But none of them replaces Mom and Dad.  We do NOT co-parent with the government.

And this week, we are winning the fight at the federal level.  There is still so much work to do at all levels of government, so join or start a chapter today!

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