Ask parents.
Not the
casting
director.
Politicians of every party claim to speak for parents. Most of them do not actually talk to us. The National Parents Union, in partnership with Echelon Insights, runs the longest-running bipartisan parent poll in America. Here is what parents actually rank as priorities.
§ 01The Parent Agenda
Five priorities. Built from years of bipartisan parent polling, parent organizing, and parent advocacy across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. This is what NPU members say matters.
- 01 Reading. Every child reads at grade level by the end of third grade. Science-of-Reading-aligned instruction. Federally funded through the READ Act and the Science of Reading Act of 2026.
- 02 Math. Numeracy proficiency as a civil right. A federal commitment to closing the math achievement gap that has widened since the pandemic.
- 03 Safety. Schools that are physically safe, free from violence, free from abuse, free from neglect. Real funding for mental health professionals and counselors.
- 04 AI and the future of work. A federal strategy for AI literacy, coding, and the skills our kids will need to compete with their peers in Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei.
- 05 Voice. Parents at the table on every decision that touches our kids. Not consulted after the fact. Not surveyed for show. At the table.
§ 02What does NOT appear on the Parent Agenda
The Parent Agenda is what parents asked for. Here is what we did not:
- ✗ A congressional hearing about pronouns held during the final weeks of the school year.
- ✗ A ninth, tenth, or eleventh hearing on campus speech codes.
- ✗ A subpoena against the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools in her first 100 days.
- ✗ $12 billion in cuts to the federal agency that holds American schools accountable.
§ 03What three districts actually look like
The three districts whose superintendents were called to the June 10 hearing each have real challenges. Here is what their student outcomes actually look like, sourced to public state and federal data.
| District | 3rd-8th grade reading | 3rd-8th grade math | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Public Schools (2024) | 30.5% | 18.3% | Illinois State Report Card1 |
| San Francisco Unified (2025) | 53.2% (ELA) | 46.0% | CAASPP / SBAC2 |
| Loudoun County Public Schools (2024) | 81% (SOL pass) | 79% (SOL pass) | Virginia DOE3 |
These are very different districts with very different student populations and very different outcomes. What they share is leadership trying to do hard work in real classrooms. None of that work happens in a Rayburn hearing room.
Stop the clown show. Get to work for kids.
Reading. Math. Safety. AI and the future of work. Voice for parents. That is the agenda. Not pronouns. Not subpoenas. Tell the committee to put away the cameras and do what parents elected them to do.
Take Action Join NPUSources
- "Fewer than 1-in-3 Chicago Public Schools students read at grade level," Illinois Policy Institute analysis of 2024 Illinois Report Card. illinoispolicy.org
- San Francisco Unified CAASPP Smarter Balanced Test Results, 2024-25. caaspp.edsource.org
- "Loudoun Schools See Gains In 2024 Standards Of Learning Results," Patch, August 2024. Virginia DOE data. patch.com