Kristine L. Bowman (Michigan State University) has posted The New Parents' Rights Movement, Education, and Equality (University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 91, No. 2, 2024) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Beginning in mid-2021, discussion of parents’ rights increased noticeably in national media coverage of education law and policy controversies. This surge in rhetoric reflects a new social movement explicitly aiming to alter control over educational decision-making. My analysis of the movement’s overt goal draws on four theories of educational decision-making outlined by political theorist Amy Gutmann in Democratic Education. I contend that the movement is not merely arguing for more decision-making authority for parents, but specifically intends to direct decision-making authority away from the current model captured in the new Restatement of Children and the Law. This model involves shared educational decision-making among parents, the state, and professional educators. Despite the movement’s overt focus on parents’ rights and decision-making authority, covertly it seeks to further anti-egalitarian values through a range of policy proposals focused on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The New Parents’ Rights Movement thus strives to prioritize parents’ interests over the state’s, rejecting the idea of education as a public good. Consequently, this movement exacerbates inequality and is primed to contribute to the growing polarization that threatens our democracy.
Interesting and recommended.