• 1954: Anti-public education rhetoric stretches back to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which provides helpful context on the intentions accompanying these attacks and the role of vouchers and some charter school programs. (AP News) (Forbes) (AU)

• 1964: The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in public places, schools, and employment. 

• 1970: The Blaine Amendment prohibits government funding for private, religious schools because they allow unconstitutional discrimination. Michigan is noted as being one of the toughest to work in. (Education Next)

• 1972: Title IX of the Civil Rights Act is signed into law by Richard Nixon, prohibiting federally funded institutions from denying students the right to participate in educational or athletic programs on the basis of sex. Each subsequent administration proposes various changes to Title IX. (US Courts)

• 1973: The Heritage Foundation launches in Washington, D.C. and begins sharing presidential policy recommendations in 1981.

• 1976: Michigan passes the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prohibit discriminatory practices, policies, and customs in the exercise of those rights based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status.

• 1987: Michigan launches locally focused think tanks to complement organizations like The Heritage Foundation. Some can be traced to several players involved with Proposal A and the attacks we're seeing today. (DeSmog)

• 1994: Controversial legislation approving Michigan's first charter schools is signed into law. (Charter Library)

• 1994: Culminating a long-time debate over Michigan's school district inequities, funding, and outcomes, "Proposal A" passed to help create fairer "per pupil" funding by swapping local property taxes for a percentage of the state's sales tax revenue to be spread across all districts. The state still expects districts to finance their structures, operating, and transportation costs at the ballot through bonds (for homeowners) and millages (for non-homestead property owners). As a result, significant disparities and educational gaps continue to affect the state's performance. (Michigan Radio)

• 2000: Privatization activists and think tanks develop strategies to eliminate public education. They hand Proposal 1 to Michigan voters, who overwhelmingly rejected the opportunity to implement education vouchers that would deplete public school funds. (Ballotpedia)

• 2002: Architects address the proposal's defeat in a speech to The Heritage Foundation, explaining that vouchers are crucial to eliminating public education and that the next campaign will need to appear more locally organized..."like it was the idea of moms chatting over coffee."

• 2016: One of the most vocal advocates for these foundations, privatization, and charters is appointed Secretary of Education by Donald Trump. Around this time, the first Larry Nassar victims came forward with reports of abuse, including at Michigan State University.

• 2020: National developments include some of the most politically and socially charged periods in American history
• Amid the Larry Nassar scandal fallout and mishandled investigations, the Trump administration and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos changed Title IX, governing how schools respond to sexual misconduct. Their regulations more narrowly define sexual harassment to strengthen protections for the accused and direct schools to conduct live hearings to allow those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers. (The Washington Post)
• Title IX only applies to private schools that receive federal funding or programs supported by federal funding. This is significant because private religious schools that accept education vouchers require access to federal funding. However, private schools can discriminate against applicants and enrolled students in protected areas under Title IX and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Rolling back the protections helps alleviate burdens on private religious schools.
• George Floyd's death prompts national dialogue about racism, empathy, and how bias influences police, social systems, and hiring practices.  

• 2021: National developments begin to aggressively vilify public schools, with a particular emphasis on diversity and LGBTQIA students
• Capitalizing on the "lightning in a bottle" energy of the lingering pandemic, a bored population craving connection, societal unrest,  and must-win elections for many governors, Moms for Liberty launches in Florida, materializing the promises made about a community of "coffee-drinking school activism moms" in the 2002 speech to The Heritage Foundation.
• The "grassroots" (astroturf) group of moms launched with a mission to fight for parental rights at all levels of government. They begin attending school board meetings with impressive branding, matching t-shirts, and invitations to create a chapter in every community nationwide for a $95 membership fee. Chapter leaders are given opportunities to appear alongside candidates, lead protests at Capitol buildings and school board meetings, and establish criteria for endorsing school board candidates. It's an MLM model for privatization.
• Notably, Moms for Liberty members adopted a tagline: "Joyful Warriors in the fight for parental rights in education." School board meeting temperatures soon match the mantra.
• Other think tanks, like the Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute, and The Daily Wire, explicitly outline their efforts to reach a broader audience with fear-based fallacies about what's happening in our schools, targeting anything with an acronym. (Support FHPS)

• 2021: Michigan sees three new ploys to support privatization, focusing on the gubernatorial race, lawsuits, and a voucher-like ballot proposal
• May 2021: Announcements in Michigan's gubernatorial race begin, including Tudor Dixon, first introduced by the governor who signed Proposal A into law and who inspired the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. (The Detroit Free Press)
• September 2021: The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's legal arm files a federal court case, Hile v. Michigan to revisit the legality of using public funds for private religious education. (Education Next)
• November 2021: Parties involved with the Mackinac Center and its case launch petitions for a new DeVos voucher program called Let Mi Kids Learn (WLNS). In light of Title IX, the Blaine Amendment, and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Let Mi Kids Learn highlights opportunities for private corporations to contribute to "Student Opportunity Scholarships" that would offer tax credits to encourage and attract a specific demographic of lower-income students into charter schools. Paid petition circulators targeted lower-income and minority citizens, deliberately lying about the opportunities for "inner city students," "disabled kids," and others to get scholarships to learn to "read better." (Bridge Michigan) (MLive)
• Michigan experiences a skyrocketing increase in recall efforts against local school boards by astroturf groups that say we need to "save America by rebuilding it from the ground up," starting with our schools (Ballotpedia). Highly motivated recall leaders travel to meetings in other areas of the state to share their experiences, strategies, and encouragement, and begin campaigning with Dixon, the Moms for Liberty-supporting gubernatorial candidate. (The Detroit News)
• A plaintiff in the Hile v. Michigan case establishes local school board attack groups in Forest Hills that use similar complaints and messaging that underscore the failing Michigan public school system. They use many of the same proof points as Moms for Liberty. The groups heavily promote Let Mi Kids Learn.
• Michigan sees more astroturf groups launch, modeled after Moms for Liberty, focused on recalling school board members or restoring parental rights. Many pique initial interest with red-herring issues about their school districts, but keep members focused on topics like fighting "CRT," "DEI," and LGBTQIA students, as outlined by the Manhattan Institute and Moms for Liberty. (MLive)
• The Moms for Liberty gubernatorial candidate campaigns on a platform of protecting "parental rights," removing any discussion of diversity and gender from public schools, and advocating for Let Mi Kids Learn. (Bridge Michigan)
• December 2021: School board meetings across the state navigate heated meetings, threats of violence, and an influx of Freedom of Information Act requests seeking evidence of CRT. In Kent County, a parental rights group hosted a "Christmas Miracle" BBQ event on December 21, encouraging residents in two adjacent school districts to sign petitions for board recalls and for Let Mi Kids Learn, and highlighting guest speakers, including parental rights politicians who were charged with trespassing during the January 6 insurrection. (Michigan Advance)

Big lie alert: In May 2021, stories emerged from the gubernatorial battleground area of Loudoun County, Virginia, that a transgender student raped another in a school bathroom. Moms for Liberty-backed Candidate Glenn Youngkin's platform, filled with CRT, transphobic and school privatization rhetoric, wins in Virginia. The viral bathroom story made its way to Michigan school board meetings, where it sparked sensationalized claims.

A judge has since unsealed this case, and there is no evidence that the student was transgender or identified as LGBTQIA. (NBC Washington) In reality, the Title IX restrictions implemented by the prior administration inhibited the investigation and resulted in a $30 million lawsuit for failing to protect and adequately investigate the assault. (Associated Press). As a result, the accused boy was able to transfer to another school where he assaulted another girl. To date, there have been no reports of transgender individuals assaulting others in bathrooms in Michigan or elsewhere. ("How a Sexual Assault in a School Bathroom Became a Political Weapon," The New York Times.)

• 2022: National developments
• July: Moms for Liberty hosts a national summit, collecting registration from attendees, and awards Ron DeSantis a "Liberty Sword." (Salon)
  
• Twenty years after their concept was "born" during The Heritage Foundation speech, and with millions of dollars propping them up, Moms for Liberty earns recognition from The Heritage Foundation for "empowering mothers to fight for the survival of America and defend their parental rights at all levels of government."
• This language and related backlash about America's DEI programs elevate dialogue about these attacks being rooted in fears about "The Great Replacement Theory." (PBS)

• 2022: Michigan developments
• March: The Mackinac Center and its blog, Michigan Capitol Confidential, publish articles about FOIA's and partner with other potential plaintiffs to join in lawsuits (Fox & Friends)
• April: The Let Mi Kids Learn campaign hosts a pre-recorded call for support with Moms for Liberty honorees, Betsy DeVos and Ron DeSantis (CNBC)
• July: Michigan's Supreme Court rules to expand the scope of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act in Michigan to include LGBTQIA protections (sexual orientation and gender identity) to the list of individuals protected from discrimination and discrimination from access to federally funded programs and education opportunities.
• November: The Moms for Liberty gubernatorial candidate and Let Mi Kids Learn initiative failed in Michigan by wide margins (Chalkbeat). However, Ottawa Impact's "parental rights" slate wins their county board elections.
• A new group, the Great Schools Initiative/Great Education Initiative, launches in Michigan to provide anti-LGBTQIA+ legal support and "opt-out" forms for districts. (Popular Information)

• 2023: Michigan developments
• March: The expanded Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) protections are signed into law (State of Michigan)
• May: The ELCRA bans discrimination based on “sex” to include discrimination based on gender identity, pregnancy, nursing, termination of pregnancy or a medical condition related to the termination of a pregnancy. (State of Michigan)
• June: The ELCRA also bans discrimination based on “race” to include “hair texture and protective hairstyles.” (State of Michigan)
• October: A judge dismisses a lawsuit against Rockford Schools, which claims school library books are sexually explicit pornography (MLive)
• November: The Sixth Court of Michigan upholds the state's Blaine Amendment and rules against the plaintiffs of Hile v. Michigan.

• 2024: National developments
• After years of Nassar-related investigations and thousands of testimonies on Capitol Hill from harassment, abuse, and assault victims, the Biden Administration proposes new Title IX rules to protect victims. An NCAA official testified that approximately 10 athletes with varying gender identities are among the over 500,000 NCAA athletes. Based on the testimonies, the rules include transgender people as a protected group against harassment, abuse, and assault, but they do not yet address transgender people in NCAA sports.
• Moms for Liberty anticipated the new Title IX rules and, despite the increased protections for their daughters, K-12 girls, and university women from all forms of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault, their members campaign to throw the rules out in full and revert to the Trump/DeVos rules protecting the accused.
• Moms for Liberty files a lawsuit in Kentucky, requesting that current and future club members, as well as multiple other groups, be exempt from the Title IX changes. The Trump-appointed judge approves the Injunction. Moms for Liberty runs a membership drive, asking people to add as many new members as possible and to list their kids' schools' names so schools are once again buried in administrative and legal red tape. Moms for Liberty asks whether they can exempt any county (800+) where a member resides from Title IX, but the judge denies the request. (NBC)
• Social media strategists for The Heritage Foundation launch an app called Urban Legend to pay social media users and influencers $5,000+ per post to use their disinformation talking points about transgender people, Title IX, and bathrooms. (Urban Legend)
• Voters are surrounded at every level with transphobic hyperbole.
• Public education achieves positive wins in many areas, including Michigan school board elections in "red" districts, showing that despite perceptions about the country or state, people trust and value their local schools and teachers, and the national rhetoric doesn't match their personal experiences.
• Florida voters decline the option to shift to partisan school board elections. (EducationWeek)
• Even in a "red wave," voters in three states - Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska- reject school voucher programs. (NEPC)

• 2024: Michigan developments
• As the Moms for Liberty Title IX case gains attention, local chapters crowd Michigan school board meetings to beg them not to "allow boys to enter girls' bathrooms," even though the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act amendment of 2023 has already been in place to cover this issue. Local membership drives grow, as does the list of Michigan schools added to Moms for Liberty's "exemption" log they send bi-weekly to support their court case. (Detroit Free Press)
• Read our Fallacy explainer on Title IX.
• More lawsuits are filed against Michigan school districts, including a 31-count federal suit filed by a Moms for Liberty member in partnership with a former candidate for attorney general who is facing calls for disbarment due to a high volume of frivolous suits (Lowell's First Look)
• Court documents remind all parties that the definition of "parental rights" in education (commonly referred to as MCL 380.10) has been decided in past cases:
• "While parents may have a fundamental right to decide whether to send their child to a public school, they do not have a fundamental right generally to direct how a public school teaches their child. Whether it is the school curriculum, the hours of the school day, school discipline, the timing and content of examinations, the individuals hired to teach at the school, the extracurricular activities offered at the school, or a dress code, these issues of public education are generally 'committed to the control of state and local authorities.'" - Blau v. Fort Thomas Public Schools 
• Hile v. Michigan is pending before the United States Supreme Court, where a conservative majority (appointed by the administration that advocated abolishing the Department of Education, privatization, and reduced Title IX protections) will potentially hear and decide it. (SCOTUS Blog)
• In October 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear Hile v. Michigan. It remains illegal to use public funds for private religious schools in the state. (EdWeek)
• Betsy DeVos' privatization group, Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP), begins backing campaigns for public school board candidates who do not have kids in the local public schools. Some win, but far more districts elect pro-public education candidates.
• Groups, including Great Schools Initiative/Great Education Initiative, Salt & Light, Alliance Defending Freedom, Citizens for Traditional Values, and more, integrate into school district happenings.

• 2025: National Developments
• Biden's Title IX updates, intended to help victims and make it easier to initiate an investigation, are rejected in full (Fisher Phillips).
• The new administration appoints Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education, promising to abolish the Department of Education.
• During the November 2025 election cycle, 31 Moms for Liberty candidates lost their school board bids.

• 2025: Michigan Developments
• Appeals court panel tosses case about banning the "pornographic" books from Rockford schools (WOOD-TV)
• A federal judge dismisses the Moms for Liberty/Lowell Area Schools case against the district. (WOOD-TV)
• A Kent County librarian files a lawsuit against the Moms for Liberty parent for harassment, and the parent countersues. (Michigan Advance)
• A State Board of Education opt-out sex ed curriculum update sparks more "parental rights" debate. It's the first update since 2008 and shifts from "abstinence" to consent and respect (Bridge). The vote passes along party lines. (WZZM)
• Conservative Michigan candidates for Governor, State House, and State Senate use the health curriculum updates as campaign fodder for "parental rights" and against public schools.

Michigan's State Board of Education positions are partisan; however, local districts are nonpartisan. As of November 2025, there are conflicting efforts to swap these positions from non-partisan at the state level to partisan at the local level.

The Michigan Association of School Boards, organized in 1949, works with local districts to advance the quality of public education in our state, promote high standards in providing educational programs, help school board members keep informed about education issues, represent the interests of boards of education, and promote public understanding about school boards and citizen involvement in our schools.

"The goal of having nonpartisan elections is not to remove all politics from governing, but rather to remove a conflict point that keeps the school board from doing its job. Conflict on a governing board is productive when it leads to informed debate and reasoned decision-making. Conflict is destructive when it becomes entrenched or predictable, regardless of the issue being discussed. Compromise becomes impossible when every substantive debate devolves into an existential debate over ideological superiority."

Michael R. Ford, Associate Professor of Public Administration at the UW-Oshkosh

Source: Governing.com