RONNA MCDANIEL: Republicans Are The Party Of Parents

RONNA MCDANIEL: Republicans Are The Party Of Parents

Ronna McDaniel on January 25, 2024

All students deserve access to a world-class education. That shouldn’t be up for debate.

While Democrats stand with bureaucrats, teachers unions and the special interest groups that fund their campaigns, Republicans will always stand up for parents and families. In states like Virginia, Arkansas, Florida and South Dakota, Republicans have taken action to codify parental rights, increase resources for schools, improve curriculums and expand school choice options.

In Congress, House Republicans passed a Parents’ Bill of Rights which stated the truth — parents have the right to be heard, to know what’s being taught, to see the school budget and spending, to protect their child’s privacy and to keep their children safe.

That’s why the Republican National Committee (RNC) is proud to celebrate National School Choice Week and to be part of the school choice movement which allows parents to send their child to a school that best fits them — no matter their background or their zip code.

Across the country, nearly one million families are celebrating school choice year-round. Over 958,000 students are currently enrolled in school choice programs, and they have better test scores, stronger parent satisfaction, and higher educational attainment than their peers. Even Democrat-led states like New York are realizing the benefits of school choice, so why do national Democrats like Joe Biden still oppose giving more options to more students?

In 2020, Biden promised that charter schools would be “gone” if he were elected president — and since then, he and national Democrats have sided with teachers unions over parents time and again.

When parents begged education leaders to follow the science and reopen schools, Republican-led states got kids back in the classroom while Democrat-led states stalled. A National Bureau of Economic Research analysis shows that 19 of the top 20 states for getting kids back to in-person schooling were led by Republicans, while 18 of the bottom 20 states and the District of Columbia were led by Democrats.

The result? On Biden’s watch, math and reading scores dropped to their “lowest level in decades,” kids are experiencing “cognitive, motor, and learning deficits,” thousands of students are missing from school entirely, and the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national state of emergency in children’s mental health. Democrats’ extended school closures have hindered our kids’ development and thrust our education system into a state of crisis.

And let’s not forget how Democrats continue to prioritize indoctrination over education. More than 4,500 teachers have adopted divisive critical race theory curriculum inspired by The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which teaches that America is irredeemably racist and must be rebuilt.

Meanwhile, woke gender ideology has made its way into classrooms in Democrat-run communities across the country. In Democrat-run Portland, Oregon, children in kindergarten have been taught to explore the “infinite gender spectrum” and first graders are being introduced to basic “queer theory.” The Los Angeles Unified School District is encouraging five-year-olds to experiment with gender pronouns such as “they,” “ze” and “tree.” It would be comical if it weren’t so depressing.

As a mom, I’m outraged — and it’s no wonder that more parents are seeking out more options for their children’s education. All families deserve access to education that teaches kids how to think, not what to think.

I am incredibly proud to be a part of the Party of Parents. I encourage everyone to join our movement to provide more options to more families across the nation. 

Ronna McDaniel is the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.