House Republicans are calling for National School Boards Association (NSBA) officials to appear in front of Congress over evidence that the group colluded with President Joe Biden’s administration before branding concerned parents as “domestic terrorists” in a letter to the White House.
In a letter to the NSBA on Friday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) explained that members of the House Judiciary Committee are investigating “the troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings and chill their protected First Amendment activity.”
The letter urged top officials at the NSBA to make themselves available for interviews with the Committee.
“Publicly available documents suggest that you, as the President of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), have information that is relevant and necessary to our investigation. Accordingly, we ask that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff,” Jordan’s letter stated.
Jordan argued that parents have “an undisputed right to direct the upbringing and education of their children,” including expressing concerns over “controversial curricula” in their child’s school.
“However, your letter to President Biden never once mentioned ‘parents’ or parents’ right with respect to their children’s education, although the NSBA’s subsequent apology purported to value the ‘voices of parents,’” Jordan’s letter said. “Concerned parents are absolutely not domestic terrorists and, to the extent actual threats exist, local law enforcement—and not the FBI—are the appropriate authorities to address those situations.”
“Parents cannot tolerate this collusion between the NSBA and the Biden Administration to construct a justification for invoking federal law enforcement to intimidate and silence parents using their Constitutional rights to advocate for their child’s future,” the letter continued. “Therefore, to assist our investigation, we request that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with the Committee as soon as possible.”
According to The Washington Times, Jordan wants to question NSBA officials on the “extent” of their discussions with the Biden administration before the group sent the letter requesting federal law enforcement to deal with parents that the group labeled as “domestic terrorists.”
“Who did they contact at the White House? What was discussed? Did they lay out the whole plan [together]?” he told the Times. “All that needs to be dealt with.”
Jordan also highlighted that the Biden administration appointed NSBA President Viola Garcia to serve on a federal board at the Department of Education “just two weeks after their letter was initially sent.”
In September, the NSBA, representing 90,000 school-board members, asked President Biden to direct the FBI, the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security to provide protection for members facing “threats” amid ongoing tensions over COVID-19 regulations and critical race theory in the classroom. The group also requested that the federal government investigate “threats of violence” and “acts of intimidation” as possible forms of “domestic terrorism.”
Just over a week later, Biden’s Department of Justice directed the FBI to help combat “efforts to intimidate” and “threats” allegedly aimed at school officials and teachers.
