Parents Federation

About Us

Who? The Parent Federation is a nationwide, grassroots coalition of local Catholic school communities in 30 states with over 4 million parents, 2.6 million students and 167,000 teachers. In Rhode Island, the federation represents an estimated 30,000 parents and guardians, 16,000 students and 1,200 educators.

What? The Parent Federation stands for educational liberty and justice for all! Educational liberty is every parent's and guardian's freedom to choose the learning community, educational philosophy and curriculum for their child's full development from among qualified government-run, private and religious schools. Educational justice is equitable services and benefits for all government-run, private and religious school teachers, children and their families.

When? The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops opened the Office for Catholic School Parent Associations in 1993. This Church movement is determined in the pursuit of educational liberty and justice for all students and their parents.

Where? The Federation actively educates, advocates and mobilizes in our state legislature, local communities and in Washington, D.C. (Rhode Island is the 25th state to organize a federation)

Why? To promote social justice, insure good public policy and to answer a very personal, clear and present necessity for access to Catholic schools for all who desire it.

How? 1) By educating our parents, the public, the media and public policy makers through the presentation of a persuasive case; 2) By advocating -- building a consensus around that case; and 3) By mobilizing citizens and lawmakers to enact just legislation as public policy.