The Michigan Democratic Party has deleted a weekend Facebook post that questioned the role parents have in deciding what is taught in public schools and drew criticism from conservative and school choice groups.
The Democratic Party post, which appeared to be a screenshot, indicated the purpose of public education was to teach students “what society needs them to know.”
And parents who want more input on what their kids are learning, the post said, “have the option to choose to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense.”
“The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public,” according to the post.
In a Monday social media message, the party said it had deleted the post from its Facebook page. Before it was taken down, the Facebook post had been shared about 2,500 times.
“Parents need to have a say in their children’s education, end of story,” the Democratic Party said Monday. “The post does not reflect the views of Michigan Democrats and should not be misinterpreted as a statement of support from our elected officials or candidates.”
Republicans blasted the message over the weekend, noting that Michigan’s revised school code said determining and directing the education and teaching of a child is the “natural fundamental right of parents and legal guardians.”
“The public schools of this state serve the needs of the pupils by cooperating with the pupil’s parents and legal guardians to develop the pupil’s intellectual capabilities and vocational skills in a safe and positive environment,” the law says.
The Saturday Facebook post followed months of heated Michigan school board meeting debates about pandemic school closures, student mask mandates and the possibility of teaching critical race theory. The post also came amid a push for a tax-incentivized scholarship program that could be used at private schools.
Republican operatives launched a petition initiative to push through the scholarship program after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed legislation proposing the same plan. The Democratic governor compared it with failed DeVos-backed school voucher proposals and said it would violate the state Constitution by giving public funds to private schools.
By pushing the policy through the ballot initiative process, organizers can send the signed petition to the GOP-led Legislature for approval and avoid the governor’s veto.
Michigan’s Republican candidates for governor as well as conservative and school choice groups from across the nation criticized the Democrats’ Saturday post on social media and in press releases.
Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said “parents are the true stakeholders” in their kids’ education.
“Parents that expect more out of their local public school, and hold them accountable, should not be told to get out their checkbook and hit the road,” Craig said in a statement. “They have already opened their checkbooks by paying their taxes and deserve high-quality education for their children.”
Metro Detroit businessman Kevin Rinke, also a GOP hopeful for governor, said “this nonsense will end” should he become governor.
“Parents, not bureaucrats, will make the decisions on what’s best for their children’s education,” Rinke wrote.
The school choice group Great Lakes Education Project asked state leaders to denounce the “classist” message.
“The party’s classist attack on low-income and other parents is absolutely astonishing — and very telling. Public school is about kids, not Democrats’ political policy agenda,” said Beth DeShone, an executive director for the group.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, also condemned the message.
“This is a slap in the face of parents who might not have the means to afford private school but who still expect and DESERVE a say in the education of their children,” Shirkey said on Twitter.
Republican former state Rep. Gary Glenn of Midland pointed to the success of Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who flipped Virginia’s Democratic leadership on promises to restores parents’ right to have a say in curriculum.
“Thank you to the MI Democratic Party,” Glenn wrote on Facebook. “Doubling down despite what happened in Virginia gov’s race, the gift that keeps on giving.”
GOP state Sen. Lana Theis used the post in a fundraising email for her re-election campaign, calling the post a “shut-up-and-sit-down” message to Michigan families.
“This is what I’m up against in Lansing,” said Theis, R-Brighton. “Teacher unions, government bureaucrats, and tyrants who make up the rules as they go along and tell us to keep quiet and let it happen.”
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“This is what I’m up against in Lansing,” said Theis, R-Brighton. “Teacher unions, government bureaucrats, and tyrants who make up the rules as they go along and tell us to keep quiet and let it happen.” The Dems got caught, so they will try and talk it back now.
Government is bloated—no one in their right mind would question that—but it has never been pregnant, so this authoritarian air of arrogance that they can swoop in and snatch children from under their parents and do as they please with them in a public-school setting is way out of line.
“The Democratic Party post, which appeared to be a screenshot, indicated the purpose of public education was to teach students “what society needs them to know.” If that were true, then a major overhaul is needed in what is being taught in public schools and it is quite apparent that the public education system has no clue as to what children need to be taught. It is questionable as to the level of intellect that exists in public education in the first place.
Which is why for years, i’ve been saying ELIMINATE Every three (and even some Four) lettered govt depts, NOT EXPRESSLY Called for, by the constitution..
IMO THAT ALONE would gut a lot of that bloat.
If teachers need to teach them what Society needs to know, then teach them the dangers of lying before the election, then just doing what they wanted to do all along AFTER the election, and never give them another chance to fool you once caught later in the act that they used you.
Frankly if I hear one more news commentator, including Fox stating that the Democrats need to figure out what to say, instead of revealing what they really WANT to say, I’ll have to duct tape my head to keep it from exploding. The best thing for this nation is to let the Democrats keep saying the stupid criminal unworkable things they all want us to do, to go into the voting booth fully informed, to prevent us from making voting mistakes (Like Biden) that we are stuck with for 4 more years of failure. Why keep taking all sorts of political polls to find out what THE PEOPLE fear and want to Hear just so they can steal elections, then end up ruling over us by doing what the party operatives of socialist re-engineering planned all along,,,instead of governing THE PEOPLE according to the representation of issues we actually voted for. Hint, if proposed costly policy names like “Affordable Healthcare” turn out to be totally unaffordable, and their “build back better” builds nothing but their party treasure, you know who not to vote for again.
The destruction of my state of Michigan, by my communist Governor Gretchen and her Democrat Gestapo / Stasi Party.
I’m sorry your state has taken an evil turn for the worse. But the word defeat is in their vocabulary and satan has them right where he wants them but as long as he doesn’t have you, they can be defeated. God works miracles everyday!
AND with the sheer # of mudslimes OBAMA brought in, their ROT will stink that state up, for years to come.