Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and the House Committee on Education and Labor, secured the inclusion of her Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights in the bipartisan House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023. This amendment reinforces that servicemembers with children in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools have the right to be involved in their children’s education, while increasing transparency and accountability in DoDEA schools.
Stefanik introduced this amendment on behalf of servicemember families after she heard concerns from parents regarding DoDEA schools teaching radical gender ideologies with DoDEA training materials, including a teacher telling other DoDEA teachers at a training session to keep gender transitioning students a secret from parents, who are servicemembers.
“I am proud to take a stand and ensure America’s servicemembers have the right to be informed and involved in their child’s education,” Stefanik said. “Parents’ right to involvement in their child’s education should not be a partisan issue, and we have seen bipartisan support for my provision to provide parents full transparency from DoDEA schools about what is being taught in their child’s classroom. As our men and women serving overseas look out for our own safety, I will continue to stand up for them and protect the rights of our servicemember parents over their child’s education.”
Following debate in the House Armed Services Committee, Stefanik’s Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights was included in the package following a bipartisan vote of 39-19 in committee.
The House-passed version of the NDAA will be reconciled with the Senate-passed version in a Conference Committee. This final version will be voted on by both chambers of Congress before it is sent to the President to be signed into law.
Learn more about Stefanik’s work on the NDAA here.
