As hot-button topics like gender, sexuality and race ignite culture wars in California classrooms, a rise in conservative, parental-rights advocacy groups has taken matters into their own hands — and to the polls. In response, some teachers have begun canvassing neighborhoods in support of candidates they say are more inclusive.
National nonprofit Moms for Liberty has worked to mobilize voters in support of GOP candidates and recruits like-minded school board candidates in local elections across the United States, including in the deep blue Bay Area.
The organization emerged in 2021 in response to pandemic school closures, mask mandates and vaccine requirements. Founded by two Florida moms and school board members, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, the group has since grown to more than 130,000 members across 48 states.
In the process, the organization’s influence has also significantly increased.
The group is closely associated with the Republican Party, having hosted a session at this year’s Republican National Convention. It also recently featured former president Donald Trump at a summit in August. The co-founders have close ties to conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation — which spearheaded Project 2025 and notably calls for the complete dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.
The group successfully blocked the department’s new sexual harassment and discrimination regulations earlier this year from going into effect at hundreds of California K-12 schools and universities, thanks to an injunction filed by the organization in Kansas.
“They have a tremendous amount of support from the Supreme Court,” said Larry Gerston, a politics professor emeritus at San Jose State University, referring to the court’s conservative majority. “They’ve got allies there.”
Moms for Liberty has 300 chapters across the United States, including a Santa Clara County chapter led by chair Carl Kalauokalani. Kalauokalani said the chapter was created in 2022 and began out of a deep concern over “attacks on parental authority” and the “woke indoctrination” in local schools.
“The name Moms for Liberty is a bit of a misnomer brought on by the fact that the organization was created by a couple of Florida moms,” Kalauokalani said in an emailed statement. “The organization welcomes and appreciates the involvement of … basically anyone who wishes to see parental rights protected and the proper education of children addressed.”
The Santa Clara chapter’s website outlines 241 “problem” books for parents to watch out for due to issues like “gender confusion,” “racial prejudice” and “sexually explicit” topics. The site also condemns critical race theory and “wokeness” and slams LGBTQ+ activism. In the East Bay, the group has spoken out at school board meetings against Pride Month celebrations and posted controversial claims on social media.
Gerston explained that the rise in popularity of Moms for Liberty reflects a shift in renewed parental interest in the public education system, specifically in how schools are run and what students are learning — especially as topics like sex education, race and gender become more ingrained in school curriculum.
But Gerston said Moms for Liberty members’ interest in public education goes beyond parent-teacher associations and school board meetings.
“A lot of the language is very flowery and sounds good. … Who doesn’t believe in parental rights?” he said. “But it’s parental rights as the organization defines it. Which means they have to have much more control over the students’ education than the framework established by the district or by teachers. And it assumes the parents know much more about educational philosophies and practices than most actually do.”
A handful of scandals have thrust the group into the spotlight, including last year when a chapter leader in Indiana quoted Hitler in a newsletter and when members from a chapter in Kentucky posed for a photo with the white nationalist group the Proud Boys.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights nonprofit, has called Moms for Liberty an extremist group for their attacks on the LGBTQ community and anti-inclusive policies.
Moms for Liberty’s most consequential work is in recruiting and supporting local school board candidates, who then stand to influence curriculum. The organization only endorses those who are members.
The Santa Clara chapter strictly supports candidates who have signed the organization’s parent pledge.
“In so doing, they acknowledge the proper limited role of government in our lives — not a popular view here in California to be sure, but definitely in line with the founding principals of our republic,” Kalauokalani said.
The group has backed parental-rights candidates running for school board positions across the Bay Area, including Frances Renteria in the Fremont Union School District race, Nicole Gribstad in the San Jose Unified School District race and Matt Karnes in the Alum Rock Unified School District race.
In the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose, Moms for Liberty-backed candidates Joshua Harrington and Josue Gonzalez have condemned LGBTQ+ and gender programs they say have led “to overcrowding the curriculum at the expense of essential academic subjects” and contributed to a continued academic decline.
Harrington and Gonzalez did not respond to this news organization’s request for comment.
The group’s rising influence in local politics has prompted pushback from teachers. A group of more than two dozen educators in the district have canvassed for Franklin-McKinley incumbents George Sanchez and Milan Balinton amid concerns that Harrington and Gonzalez’s vision for the district will send Franklin McKinley backward.
Vivian Pham, a third-grade teacher at Santee Elementary School, has spent at least 30 hours walking around neighborhoods and knocking on doors to encourage residents to vote for Sanchez and Balinton.
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“As a teacher, I really believe in diversity and inclusion and making sure that all my students feel welcome and feel comfortable being themselves,” Pham said.
Pham said despite the long hours and exhausting work canvassing requires, she continues to campaign for the district’s incumbents because she believes their values and mission will be the best thing for her students — and because she’s concerned that Harrington and Gonzalez are endorsed by Moms for Liberty.
“The things that they’re running for, it is just totally against our core beliefs as people in our community,” Pham said. “For me, it’s just standing up for what’s right for human rights.”