As Legislators Return to Capitol, Parents Speak Up Against Harmful Bills

Today at the State Capitol, a grass-roots coalition of concerned parents and grandparents joined together for a press conference to highlight the barrage of bills infringing both upon parental rights and local control of school curriculum. The press conference sponsored by Our Duty, Freedom Angels, and Facts Law Truth Justice (FLTJ), highlighted key leaders in the fight for parental rights such as Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD ) Board President Sonja Shaw, and Assemblymember Bill Essayli. 

Both Shaw and Essayli have been advocating for parental rights by promoting parent notification policies for local school districts to make sure parents are notified if a child is suicidal, is a victim of bullying, gets seriously injured, or asks their teachers to refer to them as a different gender from that listed on their official documents. Today they also raised their voices against legislation targeting parents. “Their goal was to break up the family unit and take control of our children,” Shaw said. “When we push back they do unethical things to quiet us.” Shaw explained how the parent notification policy that CVUSD passed was also approved by Murrieta Unified School District, and she expects other districts will follow suit in the months to come.

Shaw also called out Governor Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond for falsely claiming to be for “parental empowerment.”  “But they are not,” Shaw said. “Their actions proved that they are not. Thurmond called us extremists.” Shaw then challenged Newsom, Thurmond and State Attorney Rob Bonta to a debate.  “Let me know the time, the place, your preferred media people. You three meet with me, and have a transparent, open conversation, publicized for all of California to see, no attorneys, just you guys and me, a mom, a soccer mom.” 

Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) authored a parent notification bill, AB 1314, earlier this year, but the Chair of the Assembly Education Committee, Al Muratsuchi, refused to schedule it a hearing, claiming the bill was “bad policy,” and a “hearing would potentially provide a forum for increasingly hateful rhetoric targeting LGBTQ youth.”

Essayli was undeterred and is now encouraging school districts around the state to pass parent notification policies. He believes the public is on his side and hopes his fight against Democrat leaders becomes a campaign issue in the next election. “We welcome this fight; bring it; bring the fight,” Essayli said at the press conference. “We want the public to know what your agenda is, and we want to run on this in the next election. Tell the people of California that you are against parents. Tell them that you think parents are a danger to their kids, and tell them that you want to indoctrinate and you want to impose radical transgender ideology on kids over their parents objections. Good luck at the next election.”