Parents Defending Education

Parents Defending Education is a conservative 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of Virginia. They self-identify as "a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas. Through network and coalition building, investigative reporting, litigation, and engagement on local, state, and national policies, we are fighting indoctrination in the classroom-- and for the restoration of a healthy non-political education for our kids" according to the PDE website. While they identify as a grassroots effort, their connection to the Koch network and conservative dark money affiliates has some opponents labeling them as "astroturf"-- "activism manufactured by powerful interests to look like grassroots organizing". They support curricula that include "rigorous instruction in history, civics, literature, math, the sciences, and the ideas and values that enrich our country". They aim to discontinue the inclusion of curricula with "emphasis on students' group identities: race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender".

Parents Defending Education is part of a growing movement to privatize public school management. Truthout reported PDE President Nikki Neilly said in a podcast produced by DonorsTrust that "introducing competition to public education could be an exploitable 'pressure point'." Also according to Truthout, the school choice movement is "rooted in efforts to keep schools racially segregated, and still today these programs in effect maintain segregation by race, class and disability".

Parents Defending Education's website includes information about filing a Freedom of Information Act Request, with the page's tagline reading, "sunshine is the best disinfectant!". The website also provides a resolution template for school board's to prohibit the teaching of CRT.

PDE opposes the factual teaching of racism in K-12 Schools, teacher's unions, school admissions processes that consider or acknowledge race, and any discussion of gender identity or sexuality in schools.

News and Controversy

Federal Suit, Transgender/Gender Non-Conforming Policies in IA School District

In August 2022, PDE (representing anonymous parents of students) filed a suit against the Linn-Mar Community School District (Iowa). According to Courthouse News Service, the policy accommodated names/pronouns, facilities usage, overnight school trips, and participation in activities for transgender students. PDE claimed that the policy violated parents' rights because it "prevented the district's schools from notifying parents if their child had been given a gender support plan or assumed transgender status." The Iowa Starting Line reports that Rep. Ashley Hinson, whose two sons attend school in this district, was instrumental in elevating this controversy to a national level. Hinson ran a TV campaign ad in 2022 that attacked the school district, provided Breitbart with an "exclusive interview," and appeared at a February 2023 event with former Vice President Mike Pence to elevate this issue.

In May 2023, Iowa Republicans passed a bill that made most of the Linn-Mar policy moot, as it requires schools to alert parents if a students wishes to use a new name/pronouns and requires students to use the bathroom of their birth gender. Following the passage of the new state law, Linn-Mar instituted a revised set of policies. The plaintiffs asserted that the revised policy still violated the First Amendment rights of students who failed to respect another student's gender identity, as there was a provision for disciplinary action, so this issue was tentatively scheduled to go to trial in 2025. However, in February 2024, the parties reached a settlement. According to Courthouse News Service, in exchange for the plaintiffs dropping the suit, the school district agreed to not reinstate the policy and to pay $20,000 to the plaintiffs.

PDE Fights to Prevent the Factual Teaching of Racism in Schools

PDE opposes the factual teaching of racism in schools by filing complaints against school districts with the US Department of Education. In one such complaint against Columbus City Schools in Columbus, Ohio they argue that in acknowledging systemic racism's permeative existence, the school district admits to being racist itself. They request a federal investigation on the grounds of violating the Civil Rights Act. They have filed similar complaints against school districts across the country.

School District's PDE has filed complaints against as of June 2022:

• Hudson School District (Hudson, Wisconsin)
• Jackson Public School District (Jackson, Michigan)
• Avonworth School District (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania)
• Manhattan Beach Unified School District (Manhattan Beach, California)
• Pickens Middle School (Pickens, South Carolina)
• Centennial Elementary School (Denver, Colorado)
• Downers Grove South High School (Downers Grove, Illinois)
• New York City Public Schools (New York, New York)
• Wellesley Public Schools (Wellesley, Massachusetts)
• Colombus City Schools (Columbus, Ohio)
• Webster Groves School District (Webster Groves, Missouri)
• Orange County Schools (Hillsborough, North Carolina)
• Hopkins Public Schools (Hopkins, Minnesota)

PDE Supports Book Bans in School Libraries

In an opinion piece linked on the their website, PDE director of outreach Erika Sanzi wrote in support schools banning books that include content about gender identity, sexuality, critical race theory, mental health, or social commentary. She writes, "...as schools understandably clamor for more mental health support in schools, they also exacerbate the problem. Students are bombarded with texts, both assigned and recommended, that paint a painfully bleak and even dystopian picture of the world in which they live. Self-harm, suicide, and now gender ideology are constant themes...".. She claims that "the schools are defending pornography by calling it 'inclusive'" when referring to books that include same-sex couples.

PDE Spread Misinformation about FBI Threat Tag

In an internal email from the Criminal Investigative Division and Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, personnel were told that due to a "spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff... the Counterterrorism and Criminal Divisions created a threat tag, EDUOFFICIALS, to track instances of related threats". The purpose of the threat tag was to identify if there was "a federal nexus" to these incidents, but PDE reported "the FBI opened investigations in almost every region of the country using the EDUOFFICIALS threat tag". This was part of what USA Today reported was a large-scale spread of misinformation surrounding the threat tag. While many posts online featured claims that the FBI would be investigating parents who protest school boards, the FBI released a statement assuring they have "never been in the business of investigating parents who speak out or policing speech at school board meetings" and that "the FBI's focus is on violence and threats of violence that potentially violate federal law"

PDE Filed Amicus Brief in College Admissions Case

PDE filed an amicus brief in support of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. in their cases against Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. These petitions for a writ of certiorari would have overturned the 2003 ruling of Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld affirmative action policies. In their brief, PDE said, "Grutter has spawned increasing racial discrimination and division that has reached beyond college admissions to infect K-12 schools nationwide...as long as Grutter remains the law, K-12 schools will face an inexorable pressure to discriminate based on skin color. These schools want to send their students to colleges like Harvard and UNC. And they know that elite colleges discriminate based on race, especially against Asian-Americans. So they will do whatever they can to mirror that discrimination, thereby increasing the chances that they will send students to these colleges."

PDE Staff Vocal against Mask Mandates in Schools

PDE director of outreach Erika Sanzi tweeted her contempt for masking mandates and PDE has partnered with Moms for Liberty, an organization with strong anti-masking initiatives.

PDE's Transphobic Initiative

PDE, along with 27 other organizations, submitted a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in opposition to Title IX changes and the inclusion of gender identity language into the regulations. In the letter, they contest "the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of 'gender identity'". They write, "Who is now male and female? Anyone can be anything they want-- an individual may simply 'identify' as one, or none, or one of an ever-expanding menu of 'gender identities' promoted by activists."

The undersigned groups included:

• Parents Defending Education
• American Education Advocates
• Army of Parents, Inc.
• Awake Illinois
• CACAGNY
• California Foundation for Equal Rights
• Child Protection League
• Citizens for Brandywine School District
• Concerned Parents of Round Rock ISD
• Fight for Schools
• Fishers One
• Louisiana Save Our Schools
• Mequon-Thiensville Restore
• Moms for Liberty
• New Trier Neighbors
• No Left Turn in Education
• Ohio Values Voters
• Oregonians for Liberty in Education
• Parents Unite
• Parents Union
• Protect Ohio Children
• Protect Our Kids Now
• Push Back Idaho
• Save Oregon Schools
• Truth in Education
• Utah Parents United
• West Valley Parents Uniting

PDE's Fight against Affinity Groups

In an article titled "Why anti-racism should be resisted", former Vice President of Strategy and Investigations Asra Nomani equates affinity groups in schools to the segregation of Jim Crow laws. Parents Defending Education filed a lawsuit against Wellesley Public Schools, "alleging the district has discriminated against white students by creating affinity groups for communities of color". Despite evidence that affinity groups are beneficial in the educational setting, the lawsuit ended in a settlement agreement, with Wellesley Public School's discontinuing their policies prohibiting students from joining affinity groups in which they do not belong.

PDE Opposes Bias Response Teams in Schools

In an article titled "Read, Writing, Ratting Each Other Out", PDE president Nicole Neily writes about the implementation of bias response teams, which respond to reports of bias, discrimination, and harassment in schools and workplaces. Many schools provide students with a portal through which they can submit incident reports concerning bias, and Neily calls this practice "devious and unconstitutional". She says, "Creating the expectation that authority figures can-- or should-- adjudicate all interpersonal disputes isn't just denying children the opportunity to develop better interpersonal skills. It's also a slippery slope to big government, which by necessity must expand to fulfill this new role."

Activities

List of School Districts with Transgender – Gender Nonconforming Student Policies

First published in March 2023, PDE maintains a page on its website with a "list of school districts by state that have Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policies that openly state that district personnel can or should keep a student’s transgender status hidden from parents." The page also allows for public submissions.

As of February 2024, this page listed over 1,000 school districts and 18,000 total schools.

IndoctriNation Map

The IndoctriNation Map is an interactive map that displays recorded incidents of "indoctrination" at schools across the country. These incident reports typically feature, and are therefore opposed to, school policies that are anti-racist or pro-LGBTQ+.

Ties to the Koch Network

PDE President Nicole Neily is closely affiliated with the Koch network, having worked for the Franklin News Foundation and the Cato Institute, FreedomWorks, serving as a Koch fellow for the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights, and serving as a board member for Young Voices and Young Americans for Liberty.

Due to its close ties to the Koch network, PDE has been deemed "astroturf" by many activists for its manufactured grassroots appearance. PDE provides a map on its website to show viewers its network of "grassroots" organizations, but as author Maurice Cunningham reports, "Two organizations dominate the 'grassroots' network: state affiliates of No Left Turn in Education and Moms for Liberty." As of April 2021, neither has obtained non-profit status from the IRS, and Cunningham writes, "Both are put up jobs to populate PDE's map and give the appearance of local support. PDE provides links to the Facebook or websites of their "members" so we can see that most of these groups were formed in March or February 2021, rarely earlier. It's a set up."

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

PDE President Nicole Neily spoke at ALEC's 2021 States and Nation Policy Summit on "Parental Rights in K-12 Education."

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Funding

Parents Defending Education is not required to disclose its funders but major foundation supporters can be found through their IRS filings. Here are some known contributors:

• Achelis & Bodman Foundation: $25,000 (2021)
• American Endowment Foundation: $5,000 (2022)
• Bader Family Foundation: $290,000 (2021-2022)
• Bertrand Hopper Memorial Foundation: $55,000 (2021-2022)
• Bradley Impact Fund: $505,000 (2022)
• Diana Davis Spencer Foundation: $150,000 (2022)
• DonorsTrust: $475,350 (2021-2022)
• Edelman Family Foundation: $250,000 (2021-2022)
• Faith in Families Foundation: $250 (2022)
• Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund: $158,810 (2021)
• Hamilton Roddis Foundation: $5,000 (2021)
• Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia: $20,000
• Justin and Michelle Hughes Foundation: $100 (2022)
• K&E Fund: $750 (2021-2022)
• Lawrence and Sandra Post Family Foundation: $3,000 (2022)
• McCarthy Family Charitable Foundation: $1,000 (2021)
• Merona Leadership Foundation: $64,680 (2022)
• Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust: $25,000 (2022)
• National Philanthropic Trust: $521,000 (2021)
• Paulson Family Foundation: $500,000 (2022)
• Pfizer Foundation: $1,625 (2022)
• Ralph L. Smith Foundation: $10,000 (2022)
• Schwab Charitable Fund: $90,950 (2021)
• Searle Freedom Trust: $375,000 (2021-2022)
• Snider Foundation: $20,000 (2021)
• Thomas W. Smith Foundation: $50,000 (2022)
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program: $369,000 (2021)

Core Financials

2022

• Total Revenue: $4,301,156
• Total Expenses: $4,451,306
• Net Assets: $92,195

2021

• Total Revenue: $3,178,345
• Total Expenses: $2,936,000
• Net Assets: $242,345

Personnel

Staff Members

As of March 2024:

• Nicole "Nikki" Neily, President
• Caroline Moore, Vice President
• Erika Sanzi, Director of Outreach
• Marissa Fallon, Director of Advocacy
• Mailyn Salabarria, Director of Community Engagement
• Rachel Metz, Director of Operations
• Andrew Kozusko, Director of Development
• Michele Exner, Senior Advisor
• Scarlen Valderaz, Advocacy Advisor
• Alex Nester, Investigative Fellow
• Paul Runko, Digital Communications Specialist
• Casey Ryan, Investigative Reporter
• Rhyen Staley, Researcher
• Corrinne Carlson, Project Manager
• Isabella Rossini, Development Assistant

Former Staff Members

• Asra Nomani, Vice President of Strategy and Investigations
• Aimee Viana, Distinguished Education Fellow
• Kim Richey, Distinguished Education Fellow
• Harry Jackson, Parent Advocate
• Mary Miller, Private School Advocacy Associate
• Callie Shinkle, Development Assistant

Board of Trustees

As of September 2023:

• Nicole Neily, President & Secretary
• Kenneth Marcus, Treasurer
• Karol Marcowicz
• Edward Blum
• Garrett Exner
• Mary Hasson

Former Trustees

• Ian Lindquist

Contact Information

Employer Identification Number (EIN): 86-1596460

Parents Defending Education
4532 Lee Hwy #119
Arlington, VA 22207 USA

• Website: https://defendinged.org/
• Email: info@defendinged.org
• Phone: 540-341-8808
• Twitter: @DefendingEd
• Facebook: @defendinged
• Instagram: @defendinged
• YouTube: Parents Defending Education

Articles and Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2022

2021

IRS Tax-Exempt Application

1023 Tax-Exempt Application

Articles

• Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch, How Dark Money Shaped the School Safety Debate "Exposed by CMD", March 8, 2022.