WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, America First Legal initiated an investigation into the Biden Administration’s Department of Education to shed light on its attempt to further push its far left, pro-Biden Administration propaganda and misinformation agenda, this time through the Department’s newly formed “National Parents and Families Engagement Council.” This investigation by AFL involves the submission of a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Education for all records related to the creation of the Council and its activities.
Separately, America First Legal, in partnership with a number of other organizations, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Department of Education for blatantly violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) when the Department recruited solely far-left associations to join the “National Parents and Families Engagement Council.” In creating this Council, the Administration completely ignored the purpose of FACA, which is to ensure transparency in government and the opportunity by the public–not just a partisan factions–to participate in meetings between government agencies and groups it creates. As is the track record of this Administration, it once again ignores federal law. Already, AFL has been required to expend valuable time and resources to uncover the degree to which the Biden Administration has violated federal law in establishing this Council.
The track record of this Administration regarding its disregard for parents speaks for itself, and this Council is only the most recent example. Last fall the White House, Department of Justice, and the Department of Education colluded with the National School Board Association in a scheme to silence parents who were exercising their First Amendment rights by speaking out at school board meetings about mask and vaccine policies, school closures, and the use of critical race theory and gender theory in public schools.
Now, the Biden Administration is attempting to use the Department of Education and its “National Parents and Families Engagement Council” to promote pro-Biden Administration propaganda and provide cover for the Administration’s previous targeting of dissenting American parents. Despite the seemingly innocuous name of this Council, AFL is extremely concerned that the Biden Administration is not seeking to engage with, but instead wants to quell parents from parenting their children in favor of the Administration’s leftist agenda. That the Council is composed solely of far-left groups and the Department of Education never recruited or sought out the views of groups who advocate for traditional values only reinforces the concerns of AFL. The American people have a right to know the level to which the Biden Administration is colluding with far-left organizations to push radical race and gender ideologies in public schools, and AFL is intent on finding this out.
Statement from America First Legal Vice-President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton:
“The Biden Administration skirted the law to establish an Astroturf committee that will rubber-stamp efforts to advance the Administration’s radical agenda, this time at the Department of Education. Some organizations were hand-picked by the Department to serve on this purported council and many others were excluded. This Council is an extension of the Biden agenda, and our team at AFL is determined to–and will–get to the bottom of the situation and provide the American people with the results of our investigation,” Gene Hamilton said.
Follow us on social media to get the latest updates on all the battles by America First Legal undertakes to protect your constitutional rights!
Twitter, Facebook, GETTR, Parler, Instagram
Read the FOIA here.
To schedule an engagement with America First Legal, please email [email protected].
