October 28, 2025
Some of the participating groups worked with conservative group Pacific Legal Foundation to dump a Black-only scholarship using the KKK Act of 1871.
Parental rights advocacy groups have banded together to call for an education audit across state lines, expressing DEI, poor hiring practices, and gender discrimination is being used for K-12 school policies, Fox News reported.
In a letter signed by Defending Education with more than 20 other parental rights in education groups, the crews are pushing for state leaders in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., to repeal or modify any provisions permitting race or sex-based preferences in its hiring and programming policies. The groups accuse the policies of violating titles VI, VII, or IX of the Civil Rights Act or Equal Protection Clause in addition to limiting student safety with poor hiring vetting practices.
Defending Education’s senior director of communications, Erika Sanzi, claims diversity has been the scapegoat for states to allegedly violate federal laws, calling it a “common practice.” “With so many ideological bullies in state government and in our schools, cowardice and ignorance have ruled the day for far too long,” she said.
“State laws, regulations and practices that promote (and even require) race and sex-based discrimination must be exposed and eliminated. It’s time that every state cleans up the mess they’ve made in the name of DEI.”
Some of the participating groups include School Boards for Academic Excellence, Parents Unite, Protective Parent Coalition, Conservative Ladies of America, Awake Illinois, Power2Parent, and Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, who just worked with conservative group Pacific Legal Foundation to dump a Black-only scholarship using the KKK Act of 1871.
The sudden cause for concern came after a firestorm surrounding the resignation of Des Moines, Iowa, Superintendent Ian Roberts in September 2025. Roberts, who is Black, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents due to having “a final order of removal and no work authorization.”
Des Moines school officials are suing consulting company, JG Consulting, which assisted in selecting Roberts as a candidate for the job of overseeing the state’s largest school district, for which he was hired in 2023. As part of the process, Roberts had to undergo a background check and disclose if he was ever charged with a misdemeanor, felony, or major traffic violation — including driving under the influence.
The letter also highlighted a growing pattern of teachers being accused of sexually abusing children in recent years. The group listed data that “a public school employee who sexually abuses children is, on average, passed to three school districts and can abuse up to 73 children before they are fired or face legal consequences.”
Since the Trump 2.0 administration took over the White House in January 2025, the efforts to dial back on DEI practices have heightened after the Supreme Court’s controversial overturning of affirmative action in 2023. President Donald Trump signed an executive order against the use of the practice in the federal government, military, and schools.
Defending Education was a huge supporter in the President’s efforts, even patting themselves on the back for playing a pivotal role in allegedly exposing school administrators and districts. “I do think that we are in a better place than we were in 2021. I also think that a lot of people are waking up to the reality of what the law is,” Sanzi wrote in a Washington Examiner article, according to KATV.
“What they’ve learned is, no, you cannot discriminate on the basis of race, period, in a public school setting.”
Some of the “exposed” educators and leaders have faced charges including an Evanston, Illinois Superintendent who allegedly determined which students returned to school after the pandemic on a race and sexual orientation basis.
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