Newly released emails reveal how the Biden administration’s Department of Education (ED) in 2022 attempted to form a secret parent advisory council to give teachers unions and left-aligned activist and parent groups power over federal education policy.
Under former President Joe Biden, the department created the National Parents and Families Engagement Council ostensibly as a “partnership between parents and families, educators, district leaders, and entire school communities to support student success.” But behind the scenes, the short-lived council was composed of hand-picked activist organizations that focused on radical racial, gender and immigrant-focused ideologies. As Defending Education notes, “not a single right-of-center or conservative parent group was invited” to participate.
Emails obtained by Defending Education (DE) and shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation detail how ED targeted particular ideologically-aligned groups and invited them to participate in the council and guide its mission.
(Screenshot / Defending Education / DCNF)
“The National Parents and Families Engagement Council (the Council) is an opportunity to listen, learn and engage families,” a document sent from ED to prospective council members reads. “The Council seeks to ensure parents’ voices play a critical role in how their children are recovering from the pandemic academically, socially and emotionally.”
Organization leaders were asked to provide feedback on the department’s outline and appoint a parent representative to participate on the council. (RELATED: Biden Education Official Who Pushed Men Into Women’s Sports Still Trying To Advise States)
(Screenshot / Defending Education / DCNF)
Despite this promise to give parents a voice, many of the invited groups were large special interest organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union; Al Sharpton’s National Action Network; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; “LGBTQ+” support network PFLAG and Latino advocacy group Unidos.
In their responses to the invitation, many organizations urged the department to make the program more “inclusive,” and suggested it ensure the council “will consist of geographically and demographically diverse parent representatives.”
“Clearly articulate how the Council membership will provide diverse, representative voices of families: The Department can specify that the Council will be composed of diverse members that will represent geographic and demographic diversity,” the National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement told ED in an email obtained by DE. “Consider diversity of gender (including fatherhood), race/ethnicity, linguistic and immigrant background, political diversity, suburban/urban/rural, military families, foster families, kinship/grandfamilies, and families with disabilities.”
The group also stated the council would “provide a platform” for the ideological groups to distribute their biased resources straight to schools and families.
Other groups shared similar concerns about the council’s diversity.
“We believe it’s critical for the Council’s membership to be diverse, representative of the many experiences of families in education systems, and ensure space for families that are not often at education decision making tables (including Black and Brown parents, immigrants, families whose primary language is not English etc.),” United Parent Leaders Action Network wrote in a response to ED. The group also emphasized the importance of “cultural competence” and “equity, diversity, and inclusion in education.”
The National Parent-Teacher Association asked ED if they would provide “translation/interpretation support” to organization representatives, emails show. Girls Inc., a feminist advocacy group, responded in a separate email suggesting some items the council should be tasked with, such as considering changes to “disciplinary equity,” the use of “police in schools,” and “access for girls and other underrepresented groups to meaningful opportunities to pursue all career paths.”
Another group complained that the term “parents” was not “inclusive” enough, and suggested the documents be amended to include the term “caregiver,” a change which ED appears to have made, according to later documents.
Along with accepting the invitation to join, AFT also recommended other organizations for invitation, including Red Wine and Blue, which purports to “push back against extremism” by teaching anti-racism, reading inappropriate books to children, and advocating for abortions. AFT paid that organization more than $1 million between 2015 and 2025, and also directly funded several other participating groups, such as the National Action Network and Unidos.
In a later email, ED clarified that the council is “not a Federal Advisory Committee and therefore, does not have access to information and advice on a broad range of issues affecting federal policies and programs.”
“The Biden Administration weaponized the Department of Justice and FBI to target parents speaking at school board meetings in favor of opening schools and against DEI and transgender policies,” Ian Prior, senior advisor at America First Legal, said in a statement to the DCNF. “In a transparently cynical attempt to manage the fallout, the Administration violated federal law and set up its phony ‘National Parents and Families Council’ stocked with leftist allies to promote a radical, anti-parent agenda. America First Legal is proud to have partnered with other pro-parent organizations to sue the Biden Administration, forcing it to back down and disband its unlawful, astroturf group.”
The council was disbanded less than six months after its launch following legal challenges by DE, America First Legal, and Fight for Schools and Families, with DE calling the council “illegal,” “overtly partisan,” and full of “virtue-signaling.” The lawsuit alleged the administration violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires advisory committees to be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented” and requires a certain degree of transparency.
DE sued again in 2025 to obtain documents relating to the council after the education department allegedly ignored several FOIA requests.
“This public records request – which we received only after suing the federal government following a years-long delay – reveals that the Biden administration hand-picked a set of allies and yes-men to create a Potemkin village to feign that they cared about the opinions of parents and families,” Nicole Neily, president of DE, told the DCNF. “Clearly, this council was nothing more than a smokescreen meant to distract from their NSBA scandal when Attorney General Merrick Garland deployed the FBI against American citizens using their First Amendment rights. The Trump administration’s genuine efforts to engage parents and students stands in stark relief to the Biden administration’s surrender to progressive activists, and we are proud to have played a small part in stopping their radical agenda.”
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