They do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT: Moms for Liberty Pushing for Educational Reform

Dedicated to “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating, and empowering parents to defend their parental rights,” Moms for Liberty is a controversial organization founded by Tina Descovich and Tiffany Justice. They started the group in 2021, after Descovich lost her seat on the Brevard County school board to Jennifer Jenkins, who had opposed Descovich’s views against mask mandates for children. Afterwards, Descovich and Justice (a former member of the Indian River County school board in Florida) connected to create Moms for Liberty. Marie Rogerson, Descovich’s campaign manager back when she was racing against Jennifer Jenkins, also assisted them.

They established two chapters, both in Florida counties, to begin - the Brevard and Indian River counties. Their original plan was to start 67 chapters in all Florida counties. But two weeks later, a mom in New York contacted Moms for Liberty, wanting to start a chapter there. Justice and Descovich agreed, and Moms for Liberty spread nationwide. 

Chapters have sometimes used unethical means to achieve change. A prime example of that was the alleged harassment of Jennifer Jenkins, who defeated Descovich for school board. According to Jenkins, members of Brevard County’s Moms for Liberty chapter had started following her to her car, shouting and mailing her threats. She even claims they filed a child abuse report against her. Moms for Liberty denied this, and said that they neither organized nor agreed with Jenkins’s harassment. Another example was an approach that a chapter in New Hampshire took to restrict the teaching of critical race theory in their schools: offering a $500 bounty to people who “turned in” teachers educating students about the topic. The main Moms for Liberty group said that they always encourage their members to be “joyful warriors,” but still stand strong for their rights.

Moms for Liberty’s main focus used to be ending mask mandates, but now they have widened their focus to more targets, such as LGBTQ+ content, and critical race theory. They believe that as parents, they have the right to control what children are educated on and when. Some accuse them of being large drivers of censorship, or the suppression of certain information or content. They say that Moms for Liberty is censoring content that does not fit with their values.

A Lakeside Leo reporter interviewed Justice on October 22, asking her about the reports of Moms for Liberty banning books.

“Moms for Liberty is not interested in banning any books,” she said. “But we are very concerned that there are a lot of books in public school libraries…that contain subject matter and pictures that are not intended...for children. And we are worried about why that is.” According to her, a common misconception about their organization is that they hate public schools, or that they want the curriculum to reflect their own values. Justice says that Moms for Liberty is “not looking for any specific thing to be taught.” Rather, they are looking for “transparency…and accountability for the educational failure that we see.” She thinks that people are making money off children’s education, and don’t like it when Moms for Liberty calls out their disregard for children.

“By the end of third grade, children should be reading to learn, not learning to read,” she said.

Today, Moms for Liberty has expanded all across the country, with at least one chapter in every state except Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska. They are the largest driving force behind the movement to increase parental involvement in education. They plan to elect more parents to the school boards across the country to ensure that their children’s education is in good hands. However, their long-term impact on the public school education system is yet to be determined.