Parent rights and school board accountability were the highlights of a two-day conference in Sacramento, California, earlier this month focused on California schools.
The issues were discussed as part of the California Policy Center’s “Parents, Not Partisans” summit on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9, where more than 100 parents, grassroots organizers, education reformers, and school board members attended. It was the organization’s second such conference in two years.
According to the center’s Parent Union Director, Rebecca Holz, it was so named to bring “parent group leaders together who are advocating on diverse issues but share a commitment to parents’ rights in directing the education of their children.”
The center seeks to build on the momentum of the state’s recent nonpartisan parent rights movement, which in recent years has seen an increase in parent involvement in local education and a wave of parents running for school board elections—partially because of what they say is inappropriate curriculum and COVID-19 policies.
“When California’s parent movement first started, many parents were speaking out at school board meetings and forming parent groups on their own,” Holz said in a statement. “Now ... parent advocates have been elected to school boards and local offices, and parent groups are working together and organizing for real change.”
Panels covered a range of topics for how parents, parent groups, and lawmakers can work together on key education issues both locally and statewide, including those on how to hold your local school board accountable, how to run for school board as a parent, and how to advocate for children with special interests.
Seak Smith, founder of Mom Army, a national grassroots parent group with 20,000 social media followers, said she learned during the summit about how to work with legislators on issues that the group deems important.
“Part of our strategy is policy,” Smith said. “A lot of our chapter leaders are working with legislators and supporting bills that will be protecting children and protecting parental rights.”
Panelist and California state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, a Republican, who’s also vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, encouraged parents to continue to stand up for their beliefs despite some discouragement they might face.
“Where we are in California right now did not happen overnight,” Bogh said in a statement. “It’s been something that’s been happening for decades. We’re not going to change it overnight but the engagement, the awareness, is what’s [going to] make a difference. Your voice does matter.”
Lance Christensen, the center’s vice president of education policy and government affairs, who moderated the panels, said the center hopes to be a “hub” for resources, mentoring, and advocacy for other like-minded groups.
“This summit was a testament to the resilience of putting parents before partisanship,” he said in a statement. “Parents simply want what’s best for their kids and are tired of being dismissed when they seek out the best educational options for their kids.”
