…by, Pastor Gheorghe Rosca Jr.

Never in a million years did I see myself involved in grassroots level advocacy for parental rights in the freest country in the world. Here’s why all that changed.

I am the eighth of twelve children, born in Romania under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu. My family immigrated to the states legally in 1991. I grew up in Southern California attending public schools, graduating the top of my high school class, completing a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and an MBA with an emphasis in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. As a registered Civil Engineer in the state of California and practicing for over 15 years along with my volunteering as a lay pastor at my local church, there was no need to add anything else to my plate (or so my wife says). But everything changed after my girl was born.

I am the proud dad of one girl and three boys. My oldest son was already in public school by the time my girl was born. This is when I really started to investigate the education ecosystem in the United States and what I found was so utterly shocking that I promised my little girl that I would do everything in my power to change it by the time she grew up. I no longer dismissed the “Commie California” remarks made by pundits in the conservative press because as a survivor of socialism I was able to start detecting the Marxist Ideology which permeated every aspect of public education. In Romania, prior to the revolution of December 1989 there were limited parental rights. Children were forced to attend government schools exclusively as there was no freedom for private or home schooling. Parents had no say in what curricula or alternative facts were being used to indoctrinate the children into good citizens, obedient to their beloved Communist Dictator. My seven older siblings, parents, aunts, and uncles were routinely (if not daily) ridiculed for their Christian faith in school. A standard practice of teachers at that time was to ask all Christian students to stand up on the first day of class. This made them fair game for the taunting, bullying and abuse of their fellow classmates. Every day was open season on Christians.

The Communist Party goals for America were engraved into our congressional record in 1963 and included was goal #41: “Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.” This was in conjunction with goal #17: to “Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.” For this to be accomplished, the nuclear family had to be obliterated as called for in goal #40: “Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.”

Marxist ideology views parents as a stumbling block to achieving its utopian society. Parents are the natural protectors of their children. If parents are removed, then the heavy hand of government can step in as it pleases. Here is how this ideology is permeating public schools in California and working against Alliance Defending Freedom’s,“The Promise to America’s Parents” as it relates to Accountability, Choice, and Transparency.

ACCOUNTABILITY | “Every mother or father may hold the government accountable for infringing on their rights to care for their child.”

California’s education code § 46010.1 states as follows: “Commencing in the fall of the 1986–87 academic year, the governing board of each school district shall, each academic year, notify pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and the parents or guardians of all pupils enrolled in the district, that school authorities may excuse any pupil from the school for the purpose of obtaining confidential medical services without the consent of the pupil’s parent or guardian.”

Planned Parenthood and ACLU instructors regularly advise students of these rights and that this includes access to birth control, emergency contraception, and abortion services. Making kids aware of these rights is mandatory under the California Healthy Youth Act enacted in 2016 which mandated the teaching of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in the state’s public school system. In California’s one-party system, there is no accountability. The teacher’s unions fund the campaigns of school board members that support their agenda. In turn, that school board member becomes the public’s representative in negotiating the unions’ contract. Obviously, there is no conflict of interest in this quid pro quo scenario. When one does attempt to hold the government accountable for infringing their parental rights, they are met with the judicial tyranny of the 9th Circuit Court which, in Fields v Palmdale School District (2005) ruled that, “[W]e hold that there is no free-standing fundamental right of parents to control the upbringing of their children by introducing them to matters of and relating to sex in accordance with their personal and religious values and beliefs…parents are possessed of no constitutional right to prevent the public schools from providing information on that subject to their students in any forum or manner they select.” This ruling must be challenged and taken to the Supreme Court of the United States as it clearly is an infringement on our God-given, constitutionally guaranteed, and protected parental rights.

CHOICE | “Every mother or father has the responsibility and right to choose the education and medical treatment that they deem best for their child.”

California’s one-party system further impedes on parental rights by not allowing school choice legislation. They claim that taxpaying parents do not have the right to choose which schools their money should go to in order to fund their child’s education. They are forcing the vast majority of students to remain in underperforming government schools. Funding should follow the student based on the parent’s determination and not the government enforced zip code. Then, to add insult to injury, once the child is forced in the government school because most parents don’t have the financial means to private or home school their children, they are now told to comply with “opt-out” instead of “opt-in” policies. Opt-in policies favor parental rights because they rightfully recognize the parent as the primary educators of their children and if the government school wants to teach their child a particular subject, they must request permission. But this is no longer the case in California. The teacher’s unions together with Planned Parenthood and ACLU allies successfully lobbied the legislature to create “opt-out” policies, which forces parents to sign their children out of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, otherwise they will automatically be enrolled.

TRANSPARENCY | “Every mother or father has the right to know about what their child is learning, their child’s health, and any harms to them.”

Never mind that accountability and choice are not possible in California. Even when you try to ask the government schools for increased transparency, their minions play block and tackle. In the 2019 legislative session a heroic mom crafted SB 673 which called for transparency by requiring school districts to post all their Comprehensive Sexuality Education curricula online. Not only did Planned Parenthood and the ACLU vehemently petition the legislature to kill the bill, but the California Parent-Teacher Association was the first to write a letter in opposition, dated April 5, 2019. How can an organization that claims to represent parents be against a bill that supports parental rights? Because they have also historically sided with the teacher’s union on most substantive issues.

What will it take for parents to turn back the tide of Marxist ideologues who control the government education ecosystem? We need true and bold parent organizations to form in every state of the union. This is the step I took three years ago when my local newspaper published an article about AB 329 (the infamous California “unhealthy” Youth Act). I wrote to the editor who published my response:

“AB 329 has lit the fire of a parental revolution. Sacramento should expect a backlash the likes of which it has never witnessed before…this means war, and I along with thousands of other parents will be fighting back!”

I kept the promise to my little girl and helped start Protect Our Kids which has informed and equipped thousands of parents in California and across the nation of how to fight back. Parents, this is a war, and we cannot remain on the sidelines any longer. We need our voices to be heard. This is the time to be bold. This is the time to join the parental revolution by pledging your full support towards The Promise To America’s Parents.