DFI Action

DFI Action advocates for laws that advance education freedom and defend equal opportunity for all Americans—so that our students, teachers, and workers can flourish.

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Our Concerns

Too many students do not reach their full potential because the current education system is failing them. They leave high school unable to read, write, or do math well enough to obtain family-sustaining careers or achieve their personal ambitions.

Too many teachers are unhappy and unfulfilled working in today’s unionized, one-size-fits-all public schools.

Too many parents feel they have lost control over their children’s education.

Too many federal policies threaten our core constitutional and civil rights, which are essential to a free and prosperous society.

Our Solutions

Parents should be able to choose a school that meets the unique needs of each child—whether that’s a traditional, zoned public school, a school in another attendance zone, a public charter school, a homeschool, a microschool, or a faith-based private school. Teachers should also be able to choose the school setting where they will be most successful.

Unfortunately, having such choice and freedom is nearly impossible under our standardized and unionized K-12 system.

Congress should …

Enact a federal tax credit to encourage voluntary donations to K-12 scholarship programs, creating more educational options for students and teachers.
Provide for robust funding of public charter schools.
Reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program for low-income students in the nation’s capital.
Encourage K-12 scholarship programs for military-connected children and sovereign tribes.
Eliminate attendance zones that force students to attend specific schools even when they are a bad fit.

Parents are the primary teachers of their children and should be treated as such. Government workers should not be permitted to hide from parents what schools are teaching their children or whether a child is struggling with gender identity or other issues.

Congress should …

Enact laws that guarantee parental rights, including access to their student’s records at school.
Require states to allow parents to inspect and copy a school’s standards, curricula, and instructional materials and to inform parents promptly when school programs are eliminated or launched.
Require K-12 schools to provide timely parental notification when there are violent incidents at school, breaches of student data due to theft or cyberattacks, and policies that permit males or a biological male is being allowed to access to intimate female-only spaces.
Provide parents the legal authority to enforce their rights under Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Act (PPRA), and direct the U.S. Department of Education to clarify and enhance parent rights under the PPRA.
Prevent unions from accessing student data.

The federal government shouldn’t play favorites. It should be even-handed in who it helps gain the skills and education needed for fulfilling jobs. Policymakers should care about everyone—not just those who aspire to a four-year or graduate degree. And if students borrow money from American taxpayers, they should pay back their loans except in extreme circumstances.

Congress should enact laws that, among other things …

Prevent federal agencies from creating new programs and laws that cost taxpayers untold billions. Lawmaking should be left to Congress.
Include safety nets, such as bankruptcy and reasonable income-driven repayment plans, for students when their investments in college fails.
Phase out parent borrowing from the government for college students, because parents won’t be in a better position to repay a loan just because their child gets a degree.
Fix Pell Grants so that they do not cause endless tuition increases and are targeted to the neediest students.

Modify accreditation so that it causes colleges to focus on meaningful outcomes for their students. Otherwise, remove accrediting agencies as gateways to Title IV aid.

Title IX promotes equal opportunities in education based on sex but allows for sex-separated spaces for men and women in sports, housing, and intimate facilities. Yet, the Biden-Harris administration has turned Title IX on its head with regulations that allow men to compete in women’s sports and prohibit sex-separated bathrooms and locker rooms. These rules also encourage infringements on free speech and deny due process in campus Title IX investigations and disciplinary proceedings.

Congress should:

Reverse the Biden-Harris administration’s regulations that leverage Title IX to impose gender ideology in America’s schools, threaten free speech, and deny campus due process.
Reform Title IX to protect sex-separated sports and intimate spaces, ensure protections for campus frees speech, and prohibit sexual harassment in education while protecting the due process rights of members of the school community.

For more about our policy solutions, check out our sister organization, the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI).

DFI Action relies on non-deductible contributions from donors who are passionate about fixing our broken education system. Please support our work to provide freedom and opportunity to students, families, and teachers:

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