Also last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report that labeled Moms for Liberty as an “anti-government extremist group.” Moms for Liberty has called the report a “leftist attack, political hit job,” USA Today reported.

Debate over 'fundamental' parental rights

Moms for Liberty wants state lawmakers to revise North Carolina’s Parents’ Bill of Rights to say that parental rights are “fundamental.”

The change is needed, according to Britney Bouldin, a member of Moms for Liberty’s North Carolina Legislative Committee, because parental rights aren’t given by the government.

“We want the government to know we are telling them parental rights are given by God to us and they can’t take them,” said Bouldin, who is the former chair of the group’s Union County chapter.

Wording about parents having fundamental rights is part of the federal Parents Bill of Rights Act passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House in March 2023. The legislation is stuck in committee in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Should schools end restorative justice?

Multiple panelists said school violence is getting out of hand, citing this week’s incident caught on social media of a Forsyth County high school teacher being slapped in the face twice by a student. The student has been charged with misdemeanor assault and faces expulsion, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

Moms for Liberty is asking state lawmakers to increase penalties for assaulting school personnel and for schools to no longer use “restorative justice” programs, which focus on making amends over punishments.

Panelists placed the blamed a rise in teacher turnover in North Carolina on lack of school discipline instead of low pay.

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