{"id":2244223,"date":"2024-05-14T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T16:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-political-juggernaut-corey-deangelis-on-the-power-of-parents-standing-up-to-school-boards\/"},"modified":"2024-05-14T12:45:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T16:45:56","slug":"a-political-juggernaut-corey-deangelis-on-the-power-of-parents-standing-up-to-school-boards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-political-juggernaut-corey-deangelis-on-the-power-of-parents-standing-up-to-school-boards\/","title":{"rendered":"The Influence of Parental Activism: Corey DeAngelis on Empowering Parents Against School Boards"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-political-juggernaut-corey-deangelis-on-the-power-of-parents-standing-up-to-school-boards%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2244223&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The interview with Corey \u200bDeAngelis, Ph.D., explores his book &#8220;The Parent Revolution&#8221; dedicated to empowering\u2062 parents against radical influences \u200din schools. It sheds light on the impact of school closures, parent activism, and the shift towards education freedom, highlighting the growing political\u2064 power of parents in \u200cshaping the education system. The interview delves into Corey DeAngelis, Ph.D.&#8217;s book &#8220;The \u200cParent Revolution,&#8221; focusing on empowering parents\u200d against radical school influences. \u2063It discusses school closures, \u2063parent activism, and the move towards education freedom, emphasizing the increasing political influence of parents in shaping the education landscape.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><i>The following is an interview with author Corey DeAngelis, Ph.D., about his new book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Parent-Revolution-Rescuing-Radicals-Ruining\/dp\/1546006869\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=&#038;sr=\">The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids From The Radicals Ruining Our Schools.<\/a>\u201d (May 2024, Center Street\/Hachette Book Group)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: Corey, you dedicate \u201cThe Parent Revolution\u201d to parents, of course, but you also include a dedication to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. Why?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis<\/strong>: Randi Weingarten and the teachers unions overplayed their hand and have inadvertently done more to advance school choice and homeschooling than anyone could have ever imagined. By fighting to keep schools closed, the unions showed their true colors and awakened a sleeping giant: parents. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Families got to see that their children\u2019s schools were focusing more on radical leftist indoctrination than education and that mobilized parents to wake up and push back. The parent revolution turned education freedom into a GOP litmus-test issue, and that has translated into 11 red states <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/devos-republicans-must-seize-window-of-opportunity-on-school-choice\/\" title=\"DeVos: Republicans Must Seize \u2018Window of Opportunity\u2019 on School Choice\">passing universal school choice<\/a> since 2021. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For far too long in K-12 education, the only special interests represented the employees \u2013 the adults \u2013 in the system. But now, the kids have a union of their own: their parents. We\u2019re now freeing families from the depraved clutches of the teachers unions once and for all, and the unions have themselves to thank for losing their monopoly.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: \u201cThe Parent Revolution\u201d delves into the deleterious effects of the COVID lockdowns on students nationwide. In fact, you highlight one particular quote from a frustrated mother in NYC who wrote: \u201cI am no longer content to let four men\u2014Bill de Blasio, Michael Mulgrew, Richard Carranza and Andrew Cuomo\u2014decide whether my children can go to school and whether I, as a working mother, can have a job and a career.\u201d Was this the beginning of parents pushing back?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> Yes, \u201ctwo weeks to slow the spread\u201d turned into two years to flatten a generation because of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/entire-school-board-resigns-after-mocking-parents\/\" title=\"Entire school board resigns after mocking parents\">prolonged school closures<\/a>. The power-hungry unions held children\u2019s education hostage to secure billions of dollars in ransom payments from taxpayers. Randi Weingarten\u2019s union threatened strikes in 2020 and even lobbied the CDC to keep schools closed as long as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The good news is their plan backfired. Families got to see what was going on in their children\u2019s classroom during remote learning. Families who thought their kids were in good public schools witnessed another dimension of school quality that\u2019s arguably more important than standardized test scores: whether the school\u2019s curriculum aligned with their family\u2019s values. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voddie Baucham said it best: \u201cWe cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.\u201d The good news is parents are no longer surprised. They cannot unsee the rot they\u2019ve witnessed in the government school system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parents have since become a political force to be reckoned with. They\u2019re more powerful than the teachers unions because parents care about their kids more than anyone else and outnumber the employees in the system. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the National School Boards Association sent a letter to Joe Biden suggesting parents should be investigated for \u201cdomestic terrorism,\u201d at least 26 states pulled their funding or membership from the organization. The status quo\u2019s attempt to bully and silence parents into submission for wanting a say in their children\u2019s education only emboldened them to fight back even harder. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parents can become a political juggernaut if they band together. Their predicted \u201cred wave\u201d didn\u2019t happen in 2022. But there was a school choice wave. 76% of the candidates supported by my organization, the American Federation for Children and our state affiliates, won their races in 2022. We also targeted 69 incumbents in state legislatures \u2013 the hardest thing to do in politics \u2013 and we took out 40 of them for opposing parental rights in education.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ten of the 13 \u201cRepublicans\u201d targeted by AFC Victory Fund \u2013 my organization\u2019s super PAC \u2013 for voting against school choice either lost their elections outright or were forced to runoffs in Texas in 2024. The message is now clear: support parental rights in education or lose your job.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_736785\" style=\"width: 391px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-736785\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy: CenterStreet\/Hachette Book Group<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>DW: During that same time, you became vocal on social media, exposing hypocrisy and taking on powerful leaders in America\u2019s public education machine. Why did you voluntarily take on that mantle?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> The prolonged government school closures were insane. The data consistently showed schools should have been the first institutions to open and the last to close, yet the opposite happened because of the control freaks running the unions. Private schools and businesses were open or fighting to reopen. Government school unions were fighting to remain closed. The main difference was one of incentives. Teachers unions knew they could keep receiving children\u2019s education dollars regardless of whether they opened their doors for business. But it was actually worse than that, because they knew they could leverage school closures to extract more resources from taxpayers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The unions needed to be exposed for hurting children. The hypocrisy didn\u2019t stop with them fighting to keep schools closed while vacationing overseas, though. The Los Angeles teachers union included unrelated political demands in their report on \u201csafely\u201d reopening schools. They let the mask slip by calling for Medicare for All, a wealth tax, police-free schools, and a ban on new charter schools. The Chicago Teachers Union boss, Stacy Davis Gates, sent her son to a private school just a year after calling school choice racist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Their positions have no basis in logic. The unions fight against school choice to protect their own monopoly. They want to trap other people\u2019s kids\u2013and the money meant for educating them\u2013in their failing government schools to keep their gravy train going. Almost all of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/running-on-their-record-of-lockdowns-gretchen-whitmer-dragged-for-campaign-event-ft-randi-weingarten\/\" title=\"\u2018Running On Their Record Of Lockdowns\u2019: Gretchen Whitmer Dragged For Campaign Event Ft. Randi Weingarten\">teachers union campaign contributions<\/a> go to Democrats, too, so the Democrat Party has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the teachers unions. 99.97% of the campaign contributions from Randi Weingarten\u2019s union \u2013 the American Federation of Teachers \u2013 went to Democrats in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That influence often makes union-controlled politicians look like hypocrites on school choice as well. North Carolina\u2019s Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, for example, declared a state of emergency to try to block school choice after he sent his own kid to a private school. Talk about an abuse of emergency power.<\/span><br \/> <b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: All of this led to you becoming the leader of the Red State Strategy. What is that strategy?<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> The school choice movement made a mistake focusing too much on making lefty arguments that appeal to Democrats. The argument that school choice is an equalizer that disproportionately helps the least advantaged kids who are stuck in failing government schools is a good one, but it didn\u2019t translate to legislative victories. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Democrat politicians continued to vote with the teachers unions even if they were on our side privately because politicians often respond more to power than logic or morality. At the same time, Republican politicians didn\u2019t feel as much pressure to vote for school choice since it was viewed as a bipartisan policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Covid-era school closures helped turn school choice into a GOP litmus-test issue because conservative parents started paying close attention to the education system and politicians\u2019 votes. Putting a spotlight on these votes helped Republican primary voters hold politicians accountable and pass universal school choice in 11 red states in just a few years. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As red states engage in friendly competition to empower all families with education freedom, Democrats will feel more pressure to come along. In the book, I call this phenomenon \u201cbipartisanship through hyperpartisanship.\u201d The more the GOP leans into parental rights in education as a political winner, the more Democrats will be pressured to side with their constituents as opposed to special interests. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We saw what happened with former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe when he said \u201cI don\u2019t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach\u201d during the final gubernatorial debate in 2021. In a state that went ten points to Biden just the year before, McAuliffe ended up losing to Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, by six points with voters who listed education as their top priority, and that turned out to be the number two most important issue in that election. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2022, then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, changed his education platform to include private school choice right before his gubernatorial election even though he was up by double digits in the polls. He even went on Fox News in 2023 reiterating his support for school choice. Whether he was reading the tea leaves or it was a true change of heart is not that important. That a high-profile Democrat who was up in the polls felt compelled to publicly signal support for school choice is good news for families in the long-run.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Milton Friedman famously said, \u201cI do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.\u201d I believe we\u2019re reaching that point on the issue of education freedom because parents are now engaged.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: Your opponents say, \u201cNo one in education policy, advocacy, or activism has ever lived rent-free in more heads at once than Corey DeAngelis.\u201d Why is that true?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> They\u2019re losing control over the minds of other people\u2019s children and they can\u2019t handle it. They\u2019ve been so drunk on power for so long that they don\u2019t know how to deal with defeat. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They also see the school system not as a means to educate productive citizens but as a way to raise other people\u2019s kids in their socialist worldview. The radical Left doesn\u2019t even need to have their own kids to shape the future of this country because they\u2019ve infiltrated the government school system. School choice threatens the power the radical left has over the system, but more importantly the future of our country. That\u2019s why they lose their minds over school choice more than anything else. It strikes at the root of socialist control.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: You use the term \u2018government schools\u2019 throughout the book. Why?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> They are run by the government. They are regulated by the government. They are assigned by the government. They are compelled by the government. They are funded by the government. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They aren\u2019t \u201cpublic\u201d in any meaningful sense of the word. They aren\u2019t open to the public. They discriminate by ZIP code. Families have been fined and even gone to jail for lying about their address to get their kids into better \u201cpublic\u201d schools. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They aren\u2019t accountable to the public. Baltimore has dozens of schools with zero students proficient in math, and the nation\u2019s report card shows two-thirds of American students are not proficient in reading despite taxpayers spending about $20,000 per year on their education. They aren\u2019t a \u201cpublic good\u201d according to the economic definition, either. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They are government schools, even if the truth hurts some people\u2019s feelings. The real question is why does this basic truth upset so many people? It might be because it\u2019s a tough pill to swallow knowing that the government sucks at just about everything it runs and that tens of millions of American kids attend government-run schools each year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: Loudoun County, Virginia, quickly became \u201cExhibit A\u201d of parents battling an entrenched school board. What do you think was the turning point for the parents of Loudoun County?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> The National School Boards Association sent a letter to Joe Biden suggesting parents should be investigated for \u201cdomestic terrorism\u201d for making their voices heard at school board meetings. That infamous letter cited a story about the arrest of a parent who was upset at a school board meeting about his daughter being sexually assaulted in a school bathroom. The father, Scott T. Smith \u2013 who was later pardoned by Governor Glenn Youngkin \u2013 was concerned a transgender bathroom policy would put more girls in danger. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A grand jury report later concluded that the school board covered it up and lied about it to the public, which explains why the father was so upset that day. Luke Rosiak published Smith\u2019s full story in the Daily Wire in mid-October, right in the midst of Virginia\u2019s gubernatorial contest. The story was explosive. The truth reignited parents\u2019 anger and gave it added force. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story added to Terry McAuliffe\u2019s infamous gaffe during the final debate when he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.\u201d Glenn Youngkin made parental rights in education a centerpiece of his campaign and showed the GOP how to win as the Parents\u2019 Party.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_736783\" style=\"width: 874px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-736783\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Win McNamee\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>DW: Working parents can often feel out of touch with their kids\u2019 school. How can they take steps to get more involved?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> Talk to your children\u2019s teacher and show up to the school board meetings to voice your opinion. Run for school board if it has been co-opted by radicals who care more about fringe indoctrination than education. <b><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Call your legislators and urge them to pass universal school choice. Education funding is meant for educating children, not for protecting a particular institution. We should fund students, not systems. Passing universal school choice changes the power dynamic between parents and school boards. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When families have the power to take their children\u2019s education dollars with them, school boards have a stronger incentive to listen to parents instead of cutting off their mics or labeling them as evil people. With school choice, parents are viewed as customers \u2013 with respect \u2013 as opposed to a nuisance. Choice gives families more agency.<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>DW: Finally, as you may have heard, the 2024 presidential election is just around the corner. Are you concerned about who will take up residence in the White House for the next four years and how they might influence public education?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>DeAngelis:<\/strong> The GOP has emerged as the Parents\u2019 Party. But President Donald Trump was fighting for parents with school choice even before the parent revolution ignited in 2020. Joe Biden, on the other hand, is a hypocrite on school choice. He went to private school and sent his kids to private school, yet he opposes school choice for other families. President Trump has supported federal tax credit proposals to provide families with scholarships for private education. One such proposal is the Educational Choice for Children Act in Congress. It already has about 140 Republican cosponsors in the House, including Speaker Mike Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<div id=\"titleblock_feature_div\" class=\"celwidget\" data-feature-name=\"titleblock\" data-csa-c-type=\"widget\" data-csa-c-content-id=\"titleblock\" data-csa-c-slot-id=\"titleblock_feature_div\" data-csa-c-asin=\"1546006869\" data-csa-c-is-in-initial-active-row=\"false\" data-csa-c-id=\"wk4236-34bxu4-7aafuw-ix2dsl\" data-cel-widget=\"titleblock_feature_div\">\n<div class=\"a-section a-spacing-none\">\n<p id=\"title\" class=\"a-spacing-none a-text-normal\"><em><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-extra-large celwidget\" data-csa-c-id=\"ifzebb-smdubo-th9202-xtcy5n\" data-cel-widget=\"productTitle\">\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Parent-Revolution-Rescuing-Radicals-Ruining\/dp\/1546006869\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=&#038;sr=\">The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids from the Radicals Ruining Our Schools,<\/a>\u201d <\/span>by <span class=\"author notFaded\" data-width=\"\">Corey A. DeAngelis, Ph.D., (CenterStreet\/Hachette Book Group) is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Parent-Revolution-Rescuing-Radicals-Ruining\/dp\/1546006869\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=&#038;sr=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">now available<\/a>. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an interview, Corey DeAngelis, Ph.D., discusses his new book &#8220;The Parent Revolution: Rescuing Your Kids From The Radicals Ruining Our Schools&#8221; dedicated to parents and Randi Weingarten, president of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"featured_media":2244224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-905633274.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-905633274.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}