politics

In recent years, debates have raged over how much oversight parents should have in their child's education, ranging from what books they read to instruction over gender identity and other issues.

Moms are at the center of these clashes.

Moms for Liberty, an organization founded in 2021, says on its website that it's dedicated to “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

But the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the organization as an extremist group over accusations of harassing community members, advancing misinformation about LGBTQ people and fighting to remove materials about diversity from classrooms.

But resistance groups have formed against Moms for Liberty. One such group, Defense of Democracy, founded by two moms last year, is aimed at advocating for “a public education system that supports and enhances our shared experiences," fighting against efforts to target local schools, libraries and other spaces for kids.

Here’s an inside look at the battle between the two groups and how it's shaping the 2024 race.

'We have to fight this battle piece by piece'

Before Tiffany Justice co-founded Moms for Liberty, she served on the school board of the Indian River County, Florida, school district during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools were implementing masks and lockdowns.

“I watched as parents were coming and saying, ‘I'm very concerned about my child. My child isn't learning well. They're suffering from forced quarantining or masking,’ and it just became very apparent that government schools - our public schools in America - didn't really give a hoot what parents said or did or what their concerns were,” Justice, a mother of four, told USA TODAY.

After her term ended, she co-founded Moms for Liberty along with two other moms, Tina Descovich and Bridget Ziegler.

“Every parent has the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their child," she said.

“And what parents want when it comes to schools is transparency and accountability," she added.

Darcy Schoening, a 41-year-old who chairs the Moms for Liberty local chapter in El Paso County, Colorado, told USA TODAY she joined the group about a year and a half ago because she’s "scared" about what her children might be taught in school.