Parents Defending Education Comes Out As Anti-Choice

Parents Defending Education is an astro-turf group aimed at sowing district of public education and chicken littling the specter of  CRT/DEWI/BLM/LGBTQ/ETC. These are the kinds of culture war folks that choicers have embraced as an asset to their cause.

Except that Parents Defending Education are anti-school choice.

Well, anti certain choices. 

In a piece at the hard right Daily Caller, Casey Ryan, an "investigative reporter" for PDE, sounds the alarm-- "LGBTQ Charter Schools Indoctrinate Kids At Taxpayer Expense — And Not Just In Blue States" (I've included the link because I think it's fair to let you check my work, but I would encourage you not to click on it). 

Ryan's resume is just perfect for the work. After interning with folks like Fox News Orlando, the Heritage Foundation, and (Newt) Gingrich Productions, he went to work for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Breakfast with Boris (Ephstyne), and doing strategic communications for the 2020 Trump campaign. He's been with PDE since December of 2021.

Ryan's point is simple. There are charter schools out there aimed at supporting and educating LGBTQ students, and your tax dollars are paying for them, and that is Very Bad. Even in states "where we would not typically expect to see such madness" we will find the government "subsidizing public schools created for the express purpose of indoctrinating children into a dangerous cult-like ideology."

It's some vile anti-LGBTQ person baloney, but at least it's honest. And it's a reminder that many of the folks lined up on the side of school choice actually have no interest in real school choice at all. Their interest is in creating a system--public, private, blended, whatever-- that reflects their values and their values only.