Our Schools USA is a left-of-center educational policy advocacy group that pushes an LGBT-based agenda and works to increase liberal presence on school boards. The group was founded in 2022 after one of its two co-founders lost her run for school board re-election to a member of Moms for Liberty, a right-of-center policy advocacy group the opposes teaching about LGBT issues and seeks to prevent exposure to sexualized literature in K-12 school libraries. Although it purports to be centered around opposing “dark money” political influence in school policy, Moms for Liberty appears to be its main target, and Our Schools USA was founded with the explicit ambition of countering that organization that claims over 100,000 members in 280 chapters nationwide. ¹

Activities

Our Schools USA’s website contains activist training tools and resources, such as fact sheets on filing complaints and public records requests, and tips on making public comments for pending legislation. It also hosts training seminars on the Zoom teleconferencing platform; past topics include “School Board Issue Organizing 201” and “So You Want to Run for School Board (Maybe)?” According to reportage from Vice News, Our Schools has future intentions of forming a political action committee (PAC). It also intends to hold regular activist gatherings called “EmpowerMOM” meetings. Our Schools USA publishes a weekly newsletter, available by sign-up on its website. It is also member of the educational activist group Network for Public Education (NPE). ^{2 3}

Advocacy

Transgender Reporting Bill

In March 2023, California Assemblyman Bilal Essayli (R-CA) introduced a bill that would require teachers to notify parents within 72 hours if one of their students began identifying as trans or non-binary. Although the bill died in committee when the committee refused to hear it, this procedure was adopted by the Chino Valley School Board. In a CBS interview during a protest that occurred while the voting session was being held, co-founder Kristi Hirst stated, “This is just the first step towards dismantling all LGBTQ rights and protections.” ^{4 5}

Hayley Taylor Schlitz Endorsement

In April 2023, Our Schools announced its first endorsement of a school board candidate: Hayley Taylor Schlitz, a candidate for the Keller, Texas Independent School District. In 2021, Schlitz published an op-ed for The Grio entitled “David Hogg Does Not Speak for Black Generation Z.” In it she responded to a series of viral Tweets from Hogg that stated that if Democrats did not pass more legislation addressing gun control, student debt, and climate change, younger “generation Z” voters would sit out the 2022 election. Schlitz countered that Hogg’s views were not representative of Black generation Z voters, as that demographic was more concerned about the racialized aspects of those issues. For example, in regards to climate change Schlitz wrote that the issue was important but that young black voters “come to that discussion with a clear understanding of how environmental racism and government policies have deliberately created the lack of clean air and water in many of our communities.” ⁶

AP Classes

Our Schools USA’s website contains an infographic page opposing the banning of Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which can be used to earn college credits while still in high school. In “Why Banning AP Classes is Terrible,” the site specifically refers to the elimination of AP African American Studies, which some lawmakers want to scrap on the grounds that it is a vehicle for critical race theory education in high schools. Our Schools’ website equates this to banning AP Spanish or Chinese classes and makes the claim that critical race theory is not taught in kindergarten through 12^th grade education. ⁷

Banned Books

Our Schools USA also opposes school board removal of certain literature deemed inappropriate for K-12 schools. In a section entitled “Ten Things You Need to Know About Dangerous Book Bans,” Our Schools USA claims that “these books are not controversial,” and that rumors about certain books being in school libraries are false, stating “These stories are literally being made up!” although it provides no examples of these false rumors. The infographic omits controversial books like Gender Queer or This Book Is Gay, both of which contain graphic sexual images and language, but does mention the book Ruby Bridges Goes to School, an autobiography about post-segregation education experience. ⁸

Moms For Liberty

Our Schools USA was founded in 2022 after one of its two co-founders lost her run for school board re-election to a member of Moms for Liberty, a right-of-center policy advocacy group the opposes teaching LGBT issues and seeks to remove sexualized literature from K-12 school libraries. Although Our Schools USA purports to be centered around opposing “dark money” political influence in school policy, Moms for Liberty appears to be its main target, and Our Schools USA was founded with the explicit ambition of countering that organization which has over 100,000 members in 280 chapters nationwide. ⁹

Co-Founders

Kristi Hirst, co-founder of Our Schools USA, is a former educator and activist. ¹⁰

Christina Gagnier is co-founder of Our Schools USA, and a partner at the law firm of Gagnier Margossian LLP. In 2014, Gagnier unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives for California’s 35^th district. She is a former school board president in Chino, California, and is an adjunct professor at University of California Irvine. Gagnier is also the former chief information officer at youth political activism program Mobilizing America’s Youth. ^{11 12}

1. Gilbert, David. “A Far Right Moms Group Is Targeting Students…” Vice. May 22, 2023. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ezek/moms-for-liberty-book-banning-lgbtq
2. “Subscribe to the Our Schools USA Newsletter.” Our Schools USA. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.ourschoolsusa.org/newsletter
3. Gilbert, David. “A Far Right Moms Group Is Targeting Students…” Vice. May 22, 2023. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ezek/moms-for-liberty-book-banning-lgbtq
4. Comstock, Nicole. “Chino Valley School District Approves Controversial Reporting Bill.” CBS News. April 7, 2023. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/chino-valley-school-district-approves-controversial-gender-reporting-bill/#x
5. Zonkel, Phillip. “California Assembly Bill 1314 Dies in Committee.” Q Voice News. April 11, 2023. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://qvoicenews.com/2023/04/11/californias-assembly-bill-1314-dies-in-committee/#:~:text=Assembly%20Bill%201314%2C%20which%20would,a%20hearing%20for%20the%20legislation.
6. Schlitz, Hayley Taylor. “Activist David Hogg Does Not Speak for Black Generation Z.” The Grio. September 17, 2021. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://thegrio.com/2021/09/17/activist-david-hogg-does-not-speak-for-black-generation-z/
7. “Why Banning AP Classes is Terrible.” Our Schools USA. Accessed May 29, 2023. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63b793dd01fb6b5692d469ab/t/63eae8c50ade4918ae2c53df/1676339397810/Why+Banning+AP+Classes+is+Terrible.pdf
8. “10 Things You Need to Know about Dangerous Book Bans.” Our Schools USA. Accessed May 29, 2023. Chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/63b793dd01fb6b5692d469ab/t/63eb038997b3e74c05a3e9dc/1676346249943/Book+Bans.pdf
9. Gilbert, David. “A Far Right Moms Group Is Targeting Students…” Vice. May 22, 2023. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ezek/moms-for-liberty-book-banning-lgbtq
10. “Kristi Hirst.” Linkedin. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-hirst-78a9b680/
11. “Christina Gagnier.” Ballotpedia. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://ballotpedia.org/Christina_Gagnier
12. “Christina Gagnier.” Linkedin. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/gagnier/