city being one of the main hosting cities for 2026 world cup? >> i love these teams appeared s. you have a lot of folks. thank you for having us and

putting up with the spiri now us. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us to talk about the effort, the director of the education freedom center at the independent women's forum. first on the independent women's forum, how long have you been around and what is your mission? guest: we celebrate our 30th anniversary last year. it is a conservative leaning organization that addresses all policy issues, all issues are women's issues, including taxes, the economy, energy, a wide array of issues. host: what is education freedom mean? guest: we generally are referring to policies that

empower parents, that are student focused that ensure that one possible, funding follows the child to the school that best meets their needs. host: republicans are introducing this parents bill of rights, what will he do? guest: hr five is a big signature piece of legislation for the republicans in the house of representatives. that -- was --pixelation was focused on parental rights. they think pam should have access to budget in violent incidents. of the bill has expanded since it went through the committee. we can talk about that. host: why is it needed? guest: there has been a

awakening among parents and community members. schools aren't as good as they thought and aren't meeting the needs of parents. students aren't responsive to appearance expressions of concern. i believe the legislators here in congress, state houses around the country are responding to the reckoning and realization that something is happening with our school systems. they are not doing our job and what works with parents. that needed to be addressed. host: when did this change happen? guest: our schools, there has always been concerns in our school. i'm sure you have many guests representing the 1983 report.

many decades ago our country was acknowledging that we were not doing a good job educating. educating our students. there is a consent that everything was hitting a mediocre pntn our nations education system. we have a gap -- -- also on the naon's report card. we have a number oissues with school districts not wanting to be responsive. host: here are some of the provisions for our viewers. school districts to have to publicly post correctly information. states must provide the coupling -- public a copy of any revisions. parents have a say when schools develop or update student

privacy policies. parents must consent before any medical exam, mental health or substance abuse screening. some of the reaction on capitol hill to republicans introducing this bill. this is jeffries commenting on the parents bill of rights. >> we want to make sure that our children can learn reading, writing, arithmetic, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, in education in the arts and music. have a richard is to play sports and to develop into well-rounded children who can then become well-rounded adults. as our position. we believe that position is consistent with what the parent of america want.

not right wing propaganda and culture wars forced down the throats of the american people because of an extreme magner republican agenda. host: right wing propaganda and culture. guest: i am not sure why he chose to use the language. i spoke before the committee and was referred as an extremist. i expressed concern about the crisis. i expressed concerns about parents voices not being heard for more funding, but refusing to provide the transparency, such as access to curriculum. information about students records. i view them as not -- positions.

host: we're talking about the parents wrightsville. if you want to join the conversation, the education freedom director you can do so on the phone lines as usual split by political party. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000 . independents, (202) 748-8002. guest: a normal hearing held at the start of the congress. i was brought onto address k-12 education issues. there are other issues to talk about community college in the workforce and university higher

education issues. there was also a witness invited by the democrats who is amazing and i could talk about all of the issues. host: do you think it has gotten better or worse? guest: the right has expanded and the provisions increased. a huge concern that parents have right now is the professional development materials that are used. let's understand why these teachers are choosing these particular books and lesson plans. a lot of it is because it is the way they have been trained up through the education programs and certification process.

it is in the professional development. access to that information was added. the requirement that parents should be notified if children are not leading up to a proficient level by the end of third grade. it addresses that a lot of young children were shut out of schools through the pandemic and therefore did not learn how to read it. if they do not know how to read by third grade, they are in trouble. i think there is a good provision and a excellent condition. there were two provisions that had to do with gender transition . one of them was the requirement that parents be notified if school district staff have changed their child's name, pronouns or what they referred to as gender markers. host: calls for you this morning.

let's get to that. independent. caller: morning. i think the whole gender pronoun thing is frankly whichever way people feel about that issue, it is a massive waste of the public airwaves. regards to committee colleges and other universities, this country is being conquered and enslaved in student loan debt. if you look at some of the red states. i would like to see our nations politics and focus on what is important rather than this nonsense spectacle that we see talking about the social issues.

meanwhile, the citizens are being --. guest: i address k-12 issues in the work that i do. i have to be very clear and frank that this is absolutely a crisis in our k-12 schools. over 70 different gender identities. they are encouraged through lesson plans, novels, what is called a gsa clubs to pick their identity and to change their name and pronouns and in many cases change the restrooms and locker rooms and overnight accommodations that they have received. we have examples of this that could be found on our website.

we have a identity crisis workshop that features the appearance telling the story -- parents telling the story. telling the story of how their child was brought into this world within their school environment and pressured down this path, that it is the dangerous path because it does not just to name changes in accommodations, it leads to medical transitions which has high risks and long-term consequences for young people. the director of the education freedom center there. this is kim in california. good morning. . caller: one of the things you are talking about is bigotry to me. i live in a conservative town in california.

times have changed. we do not need to have it taught. the kids are talking about it. i am proud of them that they understand that this is the time , especially as women should be able to call ourselves whatever we want and use whatever pronouns all kinds. absolutely. he won also for all of these bills to be able to talk about, not able to be erased. you are such a big it. host: do you want a chance to respond? host: it is very important to listen to the voices in the stories. guest: young people who have

then being pushed down this path to hide their identity from their parents. the pairs are told over and over various propaganda. if you do not affirm your child's new gender identity, the child will kill themselves. a lot of this around the suicide met. the parents are told -- kids are told your parents will kick you out. it drives a dangerous wedge between emotionally vulnerable children and the parents. we know these emotionally vulnerable teacher named so lid loving relationships with their parents. they do not know the child's whole story. they are not responsible for the upbringing and care of the child. we do not meet the school staff

members driving a wedge between parents and children, hiding information, important information from parents and putting the children in danger. host: on c-span two, the press conference that speaker mccarthy is holding in orlando florida -- orlando, florida just got underway. he will be taking questions from reporters. if you want to watch that from a hop over to c-span2. fax or phone calls. this is david in massachusetts. good morning. caller: i am a gay person. when it comes to selecting what sex you are and gender, that had been selected when you were born. i do nothing, especially this

should even be discussed. it should be discussed at home. it should be parents right to have the children talk by the, not by the school. the school should be teaching reading, writing, arithmetic. we are too busy doing all of this stuff out there and they are too young to handle it. kudos to this woman here for sticking up for parents. it should be parents rights, not the federal governments, not the schools. caller: i think the caller made a important point. the schools need to teach reading. a lot of this is a distraction from the fact that they aren't doing their jobs. when the nation's report card -- the latest escorts came out in

2022. there was a alarming drop. the largest drop. games have been made over decades completely erased. when you look at math scores for eighth graders, a quarter of them are proficient at not. the schools need to be doing their jobs. rather than that, some of these young activists teachers are hyper focused on these issues. we need to take them out of the issues, classrooms and make sure they are focused on teaching the course subjects. host: who is and who is not doing their jobs? this is a tweet from a viewer. parents already have a slew of rights, they choose not to exercise them and push for the state to do their jobs for them. that is all this bill is.

host: parents do have rights that are codified in state law. guest: delay maybe about 11 or so states we have transparency bills, -- in maybe 11 or so states we have transparency bills. we have a education rights or private rights. the school districts, school staff are misrepresenting. i can't tell you the information about your child's student record appeared something that is important -- yes, there's this bill on the floor up with our existing federal laws and parental rights provisions and we need to make sure parents are aware of those. host: the states that have state

laws and parental bills come but they generally do better on test scores than states that do not perform them? guest: florida is one of those that has a parent's bill of rights and education bill that passed and goes by another name, that passed last year. florida is faring well compared to other states when you look at those new scores. host: on the state efforts, does it go back a year? what was one of the first days? guest: i am actually a school choice advocate historically. i like many parents in the last few years, i would recommend people go to a

organization that has a map and a list of the parental right permissions in place as well as information about bills. host: what will you say is the state of the school choice right now? guest: we have over 30 states with school choice programs that provide options like scholarships and education savings accounts to students. arizona expanded their education savings account program so that all 1.1 million students can participate. this year already utah, iowa, arkansas have passed near universal education savings account programs. great momentum happening. great foundation already billed. -- built. host: rich in hickory hill's.

republican. caller: i am a grandfather. my concerns about my grandsons education. it seems like the disconnect between the education that they should be getting into the social political agenda, that is overshadowing what their core knowledge skills should be the priority. it seems to me that you know, some kind of a distraction from that. is that what is happening? guest: you are not alone in the assessment. the majority of people in the

country agree with you that a lot of these issues focused on gender and race. cultural issues are a distraction from what should be happening at school, which is academic obstruction. you are not alone. there should be a privatization of academics. children should be in school and learning from teachers who are committed to addressing their needs. if they are not addressing the needs, i -- parents should have the option to send them elsewhere. host: you said something about florida. let me tell you about florida. it is so pitiful. they cannot get qualified teachers. they're having to take ex military to teach the kids.

that is ridiculous. you guys have run all of the teachers off. guest: i grew up in public schools k-12, orange county public schools and my friends and family still live there. i am committed to ensuring that public schools as well as school choice options are thriving in the state. the collar brought up teachers and in the classroom, that is an important topic that we really need to be honest about when teachers, when you sit down with teachers, when teachers are surveyed, they will tell you they are leaving because of discipline issues in the classroom. the classrooms are out of control. if you look at national center for education statistics data, there is a huge spike in the percentage of teachers reporting that they have been verbally harassed or threatened with violence by students. there is a huge spike and

increase in the number of violent incidents happening in the schools. teachers no longer have tools in their toolbelt to address the discipline issues. they are not allowed to punish the students, there's no consequence for misbehavior. there -- that is a horrible disservice we are doing to teachers. this is the description. guest: the law was passed in 1974. that is long before we even have u.s. department of education in place. there wasn't that much happening at the federal level when it came to education. let's be clear, even now, less than 10% education funding is coming from the federal government.

it is still happening at the state and local level. back in the 70's there was a awareness that a appropriate federal role would be ensuring that these rights were protected. if they are the rights of parents. they are not the rights of the school districts to hide the rights from parents. they are a shield for parents to protect their child's information. parents can go in and let districts know you are violating my rights if they are sharing information. that is something that hr five strengthens when there is a provision indicating student information should not be sold for financial gain and pair and should be notified when outside parties have -- to student information. that was likely inspired by these intrusive and

inappropriate surveys that are being offered at schools. companies with school districts are contracting and providing access to students. host: you have concerns about her creeping federal government increasing control and impact over education, something that should be happening over a local level? is that fair? guest: i work in capitol hill in the 1990's. there is a awareness that federal government should not be in charge on what is happening in the classroom. so, as we go back to the early days of my career, there was

this thought, let's keep the federal government out of classrooms. host: what do you say to folks who look at this piece of education? concerned that this could be used by a federal government to have more control over the local level school, curriculums being created and organized on a local level? host: specific protections around ensuring that the federal government is not going to have to stay on the curriculum. that would be eight inappropriate role. they should not tell the teacher in home county what to teach. this bill is focusing on gnawing with the teacher will -- knowing what the teacher will teach. a list of resources in the

library. that is something ideally that all states should we going. i think there are about 11 transparency bills in the state. i would like to see that happening at the state level. pam should be asking their state legislators to pass the bills. they are going to have a more of a -- to them. in arizona and florida, their enforcement mechanisms and consequences for school districts who are keeping information. a parent can actually sue. you do not want the federal government and forcing these things from d.c. we do not want to increase monitoring or reporting requirements that are already extremely -- pure when we have a concern that teachers salaries are not going up -- when we have a concern that

teacher salaries are not going up, we do not want to be creating more administrative burdens for the federal government and hiring more. host: about 10 minutes left with the independent women's forum. this is louise in springfield, virginia. caller: it is elise. i am a parent and a grandparent. caller: my youngest is 31 years old. we have always had as part of our children and grandchild, a list of curriculum, outline of courses, we have always had parent teacher meetings.

i am listening to this. it seems like my grandchild, when he was in kindergarten did not have these kinds of materials push down his throat. he did not have the experiences like what you are experiencing. in my children never did. -- i know my children never did it. as far as children not being up to speed when it comes to raining, you are the parents, you need to start reading to your baby when they are infants and continue all the way through. your child will not lose ground as far as learning to read. caller: i love the last point

that parents are different educators -- are the first educators to the students. i talked to my children to read using a resource -- taught my children to read using resources appeared so many school districts have been following fads. if there was a huge marketing push for a couple of companies that were widely successful. unfortunately, reading involved a lot of guessing. it is called balanced literacy, it has been exposed in recent years. there was a podcast series that i highly recommend everyone listen to.

it is not the reading instruction that maybe parents experienced when their kids were going to school. it has been a popular saddened trend in the last decade or even more. parents duly take responsibility for ensuring that they are on top of their children's reading. the parents have the right and information to know what literacy instruction is being purchased. these are very expensive contracts the budget used. \ allow parents to have access to that information. caller: good morning, janine. the issue with the local dollars in school, we have got the expense of 90% of school expenses personnel.

not like elon musk where he has gotten more done with far fewer people with twitter, we need to figure that same capacity in our schools with personnel becoming such a issue. we cannot find a hundred mentors for 600 children. personally, toy five years ago after a personal injury, i build out a 50 foot label -- 50 foot -- appeared at the only way to get kids who are chronically absent and are unmotivated is too energized that education environment. with the 50 foot trailer i had, i traveled the state of virginia and worked. many university hospitals, many

school divisions and other organizations that connect the dots between learning and health . we have got to create better spaces that are far more assessable. again, you cannot find that many people nowadays for the children that need to help. host: what do you call your program with the taylor -- trailer? caller: virginians with education. we teach them about resting an accelerated heart rate. i tell them to put their hand over their heart like the pledge of allegiance appeared after the second song, we stopped and put our hand out of our hearts -- hand on our heart.

second and third grade we talk about resistance training and interval training. the whole time we are doing this we are working with a different vocabulary. as above grade level. the kids learn as they go. guest: randy is concerned about the education of the kids in his community. that seems like an appropriate response. we should not leave this up to teachers who are burnt out and facing these discipline issues, who are facing chronic absentee. when schools closed and it was communicated that school was optional, you do not have to come, you can login or not. we should not be surprised when schools open again, there was a cute drop in enrollment. many -- huge drop in enrollment. we cannot just leave it to the teachers to address this.

we should not be hiring more administrators. community members getting involved and supporting. host: when in fort meade, -- quinn in fort meade, maryland. caller: the issue you should be identifying is that there is a lack of teachers, the administration is overbearing because of all of these concerns . anyone who has worked in a school system will tell you that the problem most teachers are having is disciplinary. the parents themselves are not disciplining their kids. not a lack of funding or materials. you have teachers buying their own materials for the classroom.

turning that and pretending this is a problem with a political agenda in schools, i think it is just horrid. her guest: parents need to know what is happening in the . if their children are misbehaving, if they are a part of discipline problems in the school, they should be brought in and informed appeared there should be consequence for a disciplinary issue. i think i'm it is unfortunate that there are not -- unfortunate that there is not consequences. they are pushing every limit. there is chaos in public schools that my daughters would have gone to. the school administration had to close off the boys bathroom because things were so out of control last year. the police were called 22 times. this is a local public school nearby lake arlington, virginia.

do parents know that that happened? do they know that the police were called? if there is this culture of creating a wall between the school and the parent. there needs to be a partnership. teachers deserve to be in partnership and they deserve the support of parents when it comes to the behavior of the children in the classroom. host: time for one more call. caller: i moved down here in reno. i am appalled at the teachers in the school system down here. they are not financed enough. i listened -- this lady or another lady -- this woman

brought up, which really appalled me. i am from bellevue, washington. of they are, anyway, what she brought up was kemal of this crazy stuff about children being taught sexual things beginning in kindergarten and first grade. i called my niece. i have great grandchildren that are in school. they were appalled when i told them that this woman was repeating this republican woman was repeating. host: you are saying they told him it was not happening? caller: yeah. got your points. host: let me give you a chance

to respond. guest: they have a indoctrination map. across the country there are reports that have important in reports. they have documentation and examples from school districts and around the country where sexually explicit information is being presented to young children. inappropriate books are being -- two young children. if you are looking for evidence, reports and documentations of this, i recommend going to defending education.org and going to take a look at our identity crisis story and watching the parents tell the story of what is going on in the schools and how they try to protect their children. host: the director of education

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