Who Needs Parents When School Superintendents Can Raise the Kids?

How a $21 million superintendents’ club turns public schools into social engineering labs, on the taxpayer’s dime.

Moms, dads, pastors: you've been replaced. Highly paid superintendents are now in charge of your kids and your community's "cultural transformation," and taxpayers are picking up the tab. It's time to ask what's on the invoice.

The School Superintendents Association, also known as the AASA, is the professional association for school superintendents and other high-level school leaders across the nation. The membership exceeds 10,000, and the group has become a north star for what happens in public schools. The tax-exempt AASA raked in nearly $21 million in 2024 and paid thirteen employees more than $150,000 each. The executive director pulls in more than $600,000 annually.

The AASA indoctrinates its members in far-left ideologies, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agendas are a hallmark of the AASA. Their associated state-level groups follow suit, and, in many cases, taxpayer dollars fund the superintendents’ membership in these leftist organizations.

At the 2024 AASA conference, one member spewed anti-police rhetoric in a conference video. Lee Tietel claimed his inspiration to start a DEI program was after Michael Brown was killed, saying, "I didn’t want to be living in a world … in which it was very common for black and brown people to be killed by police officers." The police officer in the Brown shooting claimed self-defense and was not charged. Tietel's goal remains a "cultural transformation" of the school district. He said he was trying to "undo hundreds of years of both separation and racism" that contributes to "what happens for outcomes for people of color."

It's not the job of government schools to change culture and manipulate outcomes. Schools should provide equal academic opportunities for all, not push false rhetoric that America is a systemically racist nation.

Superintendent David Ryan in New Hampshire maintains that in his predominantly white community, he works with a "racial unity team" from a "social justice background" to help people talk about diversity. He said it's not helpful if people aren't actively talking about diversity. Another New Hampshire superintendent, Chris Andreski, said schools are changing and that people have "found a reason to believe in this work" in reference to DEI.

Ryan also created an anti-discrimination task force to "uncover root causes of discriminatory acts." The task force was charged with working on the protocols to "deal with bias and discrimination" in both the schools and community.

He also said students don't "have the ability to be who they are and feel safe about it, whether they're at home or in school." He continues, saying the schools need to "create a safe space" for students to "bring their voice" to the table.

So much for parental rights.

State Groups Follow Suit

State-level AASA groups are no better. The Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) promotes 24/7 counseling and support services through an outside organization called Uwill. Restoration News previously reported on Uwill's pro-trans leftist ideology, yet that’s who VASS wants to provide counseling to students. One of Uwill's leading counselors promotes himself as “a queer-identified psychotherapist and coach with a clinical focus on LGBTQ+ issues." Justin Mendoza applies "queer, feminist, anti-oppressive, and body/sex-positive lenses" to his treatment practices. Uwill hosted a Pride Month webinar led by Mendoza that focused on "supporting LGBTQIA+ students." Mendoza's social media account is full of LGBT activism, and Uwill honored him as a "Hero of the Month" for his work "to increase access and support [for] LGBTQ+ students."

In 2022, VASS decried former Virginia Gov. Younkin’s (R) efforts to ban the teaching of divisive concepts, including eliminating the state's "EdEquityVA" program that pushed dangerous leftist ideology.

It's not just Virginia superintendents pushing a socialist agenda. The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) prioritizes providing "students and their families with the [mental health] support and treatment they need both inside and outside the school environment."

While there may be a need for mental health treatment, is that the role of government schools, or should that topic be left to churches and medical professionals?

In 2024, the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland (PSSAM) supported legislation that advocated for more non-white teachers. In 2025, PSSAM opposed the Fairness in Girls' Sports Act that required participation in sports to be based on biological sex, not gender ideology.

Who needs parents when government schools will feed, teach, clothe, indoctrinate, and provide medical services?

Public schools exist to educate, not indoctrinate. When superintendents and their member associations drift from academics into social transformation, parents should say enough is enough! The question isn't whether children need support; it's whether government schools should become their parent.