TESTIMONY: House Judiciary Committee Hearing on ‘Free Speech: The Biden Administration’s Chilling of Parents’ Fundamental Rights’

Unsurprisingly, parents were frightened by this escalation; in the days following the release of the Attorney General’s memo, my colleagues and I fielded dozens of requests from concerned parents who worried whether they should continue their advocacy work or simply stay home, fearing a knock at the door from federal law enforcement.

While we worked to reassure parents that they have a fundamental right (4) – guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – to petition their government for a redress of grievances, we partnered with 21 other organizations on behalf of more their 427,000 Americans to contact (5) the NSBA regarding its outlandish memo, alerting them that we vehemently disagreed with the association’s characterization of this grassroots activism. PDE also launched a comment portal to help Americans communicate their displeasure directly to the Department of Justice regarding its memo; over 7,500 people sent letters to DOJ about this overreach.

Families’ fears, however, turned out to be well-founded; on October 14, 2021, Acting U.S. Attorney Leif Johnson sent a memo (6) to the Montana Attorney General, all county attorneys, all sheriffs, the Montana Office of Public Instruction, and the Montana School Boards Association outlining “a short summary of federal statutes that may serve as a basis for a prosecution of such threats and violent conduct.”

Two days later, on October 16, 2021, Carlton Peeples, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, sent a joint message from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and Criminal Investigative Division noting the creation of a threat tag, EDUOFFICIALS, to be applied to “investigations and assessments of threats specifically directed against school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” This memo was not revealed until a whistleblower provided it to the House Judiciary Committee in mid-November 2021 (7); in May 2022, Chairman Jordan stated (8) that the Committee on the Judiciary had evidence that this had been used against parents dozens of times.

Through our work with parents, my colleagues and I hear many of the concerns of average American families. They are upset about lessons on race and gender that teach our children to view each other through the lens of identity – and to treat each other accordingly; about the elimination of gifted and talented programs in the name of equity; about districts spending finite budget dollars to bring in diversity consultants that sow division, rather than addressing learning loss; about schools facilitating their children’s gender transitions behind their backs; and they are mad that when they try and raise these concerns with their schools, they are mocked by the media and shut down by their elected officials, who have begun to take drastic steps to restrict public comments.

These are valid concerns, and worth discussing and debating in the public square. But sadly, many families have, indeed, been chilled from speaking out about their children’s education.

Attorney General Garland asserted in sworn testimony before both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees in October 2021 that his October 4, 2021 memo was written solely in response to the NSBA’s letter; the NSBA issued an apology (26) for its letter on October 22, 2021. Curiously, however, Attorney General Garland has yet to rescind DOJ’s memo. Accordingly, it appears to remain in effect to this day, and hangs over parents like the Sword of Damocles.

As the saying goes, “a fish rots from the head” – and sadly, the federal government’s haughty condescension has emboldened state and local officials to treat citizens with similar disregard.

Parents Defending Education has a tip line, and for approximately 99 percent of the tips that are submitted, people check a box that they want to be anonymous – because they fear retaliation both against themselves as well as their children. In Michigan, Rochester Community Schools was forced to pay a parent after contacting her employer and getting her fired from her job; (27) a Florida district attempted the same with a local firefighter. (28) In Arizona, one superintendent created a secret dossier on families in the district that was allegedly aimed at intimidating them into silence. (29)

For many parents, this is their first rodeo. They’re not professional advocates. They simply want the best education for their children, and they see that this is not being provided. These “accidental activists” are vulnerable, and they’re scared.

It is lamentable that American parents no longer trust their local school officials – but it is tragic that they fear their federal government. On behalf of our thousands of members across the country, we thank you for your dogged pursuit of the details behind the NSBA scandal, your commitment to holding the bad actors accountable, and your defense of citizens’ First Amendment rights.