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Missouri Attorney General launches Students First Initiative to increase transparency in education

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced the launch of the Students First Initiative, which is an effort by the attorney generals office to increase transparency in schools. The overall goal of the initiative is to create a better quality education for students by eliminating curriculum, policies, and practices that prioritize politics in the classroom instead of student education and success.

The Students First Initiative also aims to give a voice to parents across the state to learn more about curriculum, policies and practices, disciplinary issues, IEP recording policies, and more in Missouri’s schools. Attorney General Schmitt also recently pushed for a bill that would establish a Parents’ Bill of Rights, aimed at empowering parents, and having more transparency surrounding curriculum and practices.

“Parents have every right to know exactly what is being taught to their kids when they go to school every day. For too long, our schools have stonewalled parents and resisted transparency when it comes to curriculum, policies, and practices. As Attorney General, I’m determined to end that stonewalling, empower parents, and return transparency to Missouri’s schools,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “With the Students First Initiative, my Office will work directly with parents to bring to light curriculum and practices that prioritize injecting politics into the classroom. Together with parents across the state, we can put an end to these woke policies and lesson plans and ensure that our children are receiving the best possible education”

The Attorney General’s Office urges parents to submit information about objectionable curriculum like Critical Race Theory, teacher training materials, school initiatives and speakers, administrative overreach, and other issues and practices that don’t prioritize student education in their children’s schools.

Attorney General Schmitt has been very involved, both in Missouri and nationally, in pushing for transparency in education. In addition to pushing for a Parents’ Bill of Rights, the Attorney General’s Office has sued the Springfield School District for records pertaining to Critical Race Theory, recently sued the Missouri School Boards’ Association and the Rockwood School District for violations of the Sunshine Law, and sued the Biden Administration for failing to produce records related to the production of the Department of Justice’s memo that designated concerned parents as “domestic terrorists”.

Submissions by parents can be made here: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/students-first-initiative