National Parents Union

Co-founder Keri Rodrigues said the National Parents Union is made up of about 500 organizations in all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. ³

Maurice Cunningham, a retired associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, called the National Parents Union a “neo-liberal organization.” ⁴ The National Parents Union has advocated for the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. ⁵

Funding and Finances

The National Parents Union received $1.48 million in funding in 2020. ⁶

The Walton Family Foundation gave the National Parents Union a $500,000 grant and a $700,000 grant in 2021. ⁷

The Boston Globe reported in 2021 that the National Parents Union receives funding from the “philanthropies that have historically supported school choice, including charters schools and vouchers.” ⁸

The National Parents Union gave a $5,000 grant to the left-of-center Concerned Citizens For Change, ⁹ which was formed originally under the name Northwest Bronx for Obama. ¹⁰ Concerned Citizens For Change endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.

Leadership

Rodrigues is the co-founder of the National Parents Union. ⁵ She started Massachusetts Parents United, the state’s largest parent advocacy group, in 2016. ¹¹ She is an elected member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee, sits on the Executive Committee of the Ethnic Council of the Democratic National Committee, and is on the advisory board of Democrats for Education Reform. ¹¹

Rodrigues also worked for Families for Excellent Schools, which was trying to increase the number of charter schools allowed in Massachusetts. ¹² In a 2020 Heartland Institute podcast, Rodrigues described herself as a “former union organizer” ¹³ with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ¹²

Jason Allen is listed as the organizing director of the east region for that National Parents Union. ¹⁴ Allen wrote in 2022 that racism was “too embedded in capitalism” and added that capitalism viewed and used Black people as a commodity. ¹⁵ He wrote that Black children are “trained early” in public education to accept being labeled low-performing and lower income so that when they enter the workforce they “accept lower offers for compensation.” ¹⁶ Rodrigues stated that “teachers unions and their allies” were using the COVID-19 pandemic to try to get statewide assessment testing cancelled, part of the teachers unions’ “longstanding political agenda. ¹⁷

Rodrigues wrote that teachers’ unions do not speak for families and represent their own separate interests. ¹²

Support of Critical Race Theory

The National Parents Union stated in an article in Ed Post in May 2021 that it strongly opposed “the political and social movement that seeks to eliminate critical race theory from public education.” ¹

The National Parents Union stated that “our country is sick” and “we stand on stolen land” and that “critical race theory is a truth that many want to deny.” ¹

Support of Crown Act

There has been national legislation and state-level legislation to ban discrimination based on hair styles. The legislation is called Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or The Crown Act. ¹⁸

The National Parents Union is supportive of legislation that prohibits discrimination based on hair style. ¹⁹

Opposition to Parents Bill of Rights Act

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) introduced in March 2023 the H.R. 5 which was called The Parents Bill of Rights Act. ²⁰ The bill would require school districts to make curriculums public and provide parents with a list of books and reading materials available in the school library and parents must consent before any medical exams take place at the school. ²⁰

The National Parents Union called the legislation “jarringly disgraceful” and said it would ban books and out transgender students without their consent. The National Parents Union said the legislation was “unconscionably wrong.” ²¹