The Department of Justice (DOJ) is intensifying efforts to protect parental rights in schools, directing its Civil Rights Division to collaborate with federal, state and local officials to address potential threats to parents’ free speech.
The initiative follows years of complaints from parents who say their voices were overlooked under the Biden administration.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, who authored the directive, emphasized what she described as an alarming trend of “radical gender and racial ideology” entering public schools while dissenting parents faced retaliation.
“Recent years have seen a disturbing trend in which state and local authorities have brought radical gender and racial ideology into our public schools while suppressing dissenting viewpoints,” Bondi wrote.
Bondi underscored that constitutional rights remain paramount.
“The First Amendment guarantees the right of every citizen to speak freely, assemble peaceably, and petition the government for redress of grievances—including at public school board meetings,” she wrote.
“These rights do not yield to political trends or bureaucratic convenience. While schools must maintain order, such authority cannot be used as a pretext to silence dissent or punish parents for expressing their views.”
The memo also reiterated parents’ rights to exempt their children from lessons that conflict with their religious