The Biggest Parental Rights Fights Of 2025 — And What Parents Face Next

Parents have faced dozens of challenges in 2025, from school policies hiding details about their own children to technology taking over the classroom. Here are some of the biggest parental rights fights of the year and a look at what parents can expect in 2026.

The American Parents Coalition (APC) is releasing a new guide for parents as they prepare to once again tackle the bad policies that still prevail in schools as 2026 approaches. In the organization’s latest Lookout, first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, the parent advocacy group outlines the biggest wins of 2025 for parents — and what they should be watching for next year.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has signed several executive orders protecting children, including ending radical K-12 indoctrination, excluding men from women’s sports, and protecting children from chemical and surgical mutilation. These orders went some way to guard against radical school policies, although many administrators and state officials continued to defy federal directives, instead finding new ways to pursue their radical policies or simply maintain them openly.

Notably, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Maine after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills refused multiple requests to comply with the president’s ban on men participating in women’s sports. The DCNF also reported exclusively on several universities and school districts facing federal complaints after secretly admitting they would not follow the guidelines. (RELATED: Trump admin drops the hammer on five schools that let boys in girls’ bathrooms)

In response to such violations, APC has launched an interactive map tracking these incidents so parents can stay informed as the implementation battles and refusals to comply continue into 2026.

A mother and her children demonstrate to demand action on gun control near the Tennessee State Capitol building on April 3, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Seth Herald/Getty Images)

The parents won a major victory at the Supreme Court in June. Mahmoud v. Taylor won the right to remove children from lessons whose content is inappropriate or conflicts with a family’s religious beliefs.

Despite this victory, parents still face a powerful adversary: ​​teachers’ unions. While these groups claim to have the best interests of children at heart, in reality, they most often attempt to hide classroom activities from parents. Some of these unions have sued the Trump administration in an effort to keep left-wing ideology entrenched in schools and prevent the Department of Education from being dismantled. Others confidently asserted that “all the children” in the country “belong to them.”

In September, APC called on several unions to devote their energy and resources to a public boycott of retail giant Target, which has cut its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs instead of focusing on children’s education.

Along with the ongoing problem of activist teachers unions, parents can also expect continued efforts by the administration to dismantle of the Department of Education (ED), as well as other challenges to the administration’s education agenda. (RELATED: Here’s How Many Times Democrats Have Been Sued To Stop Trump’s Education Agenda In Just One Year)

A growing concern for many parents is the importance of technology in classrooms, particularly children’s use of artificial intelligence (AI). Parents who spoke to DCNF in November reported that its use created angrier, less intelligent and less social children. With 72% of young people using AI, many fear that children are using technology in place of normal human interaction, harming children’s socialization, exposing them to inappropriate content and, in extreme cases, encouraging them to commit suicide.

APC encourages parents to continue to be cautious around apps with “problematic algorithms” that promote “videos glorifying self-harm, eating disorders, and other inappropriate content.” Parents should also share their experiences to warn others, connect and rally their communities to fight indoctrination together, and carefully review their children’s school curriculum, APC advises. (EXCLUSIVE: Here’s How Parents Can Protect Their Rights When Kids Return to School)

The organization also bragged about its campaign pushing the Trump administration to strengthen price transparency policies so parents can plan their children’s health care without surprises related to hidden expenses and financial uncertainty.

While parents and children have achieved a number of education victories over the past 12 months, many of the struggles they have faced will persist or renew in 2026 as teachers unions, educators and lawmakers remain committed to pursuing radical agendas despite the calls and objections of American families. Continued efforts to protect women’s spaces, uphold parental rights, and remove disruptive technologies from classrooms will be at the top of the priority list for parents and those who support them and their families in the new year.

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