They pulled
working superintendents
into a
culture-war circus.

On June 10, the House Education and Workforce Committee hauled three sitting superintendents to Washington for a hearing about pronouns, books, and "indoctrination." Chicago, San Francisco, and Loudoun County. Three leaders who would rather have been running their schools in the final weeks of the year. The committee did not let them.

What happened

On June 10, the committee held the hearing it had spent months building toward. For more than three hours, Republican members — led by Chairman Tim Walberg — pressed the three superintendents on transgender policies, bathrooms and locker rooms, pronouns, religion, and sex education. Walberg suggested some district policies could amount to "child abuse and neglect," and Rep. Lisa McClain told Loudoun's Aaron Spence he was "weak" and "pathetic." The superintendents mostly deflected, repeating that their districts follow state and federal law. Maria Su, testifying with laryngitis, drew praise from members of both parties for stabilizing San Francisco's finances; Macquline King, appearing under subpoena, held to the line that Chicago's policies are aligned with Illinois law.

Democrats rejected the premise. Ranking Member Bobby Scott cast the hearing as politics before kids. Rep. Jahana Hayes, a former teacher, pointed out that the committee has held zero hearings on school shootings, chronic absenteeism, or the student mental-health crisis. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici asked each superintendent the single biggest concern of parents in their district — all three named budget cuts and academic progress, not the culture war.

No bill advanced. The hearing produced exactly what it was built to produce: clips. Outside the room, parents and advocates — including the SF Parents Coalition and Kids First Chicago — rallied for the things Congress is not doing: funding schools, feeding kids, and putting a qualified teacher in every classroom.

Photos & video from June 10

More clips: clip 1 · clip 2 · clip 3 · clip 4 · clip 5

Coverage

• SFSan Francisco Chronicle — Maria Su defends S.F. schools as Congress presses on gender. Read →
• CHIChicago Sun-Times — CPS CEO Macquline King testifies under subpoena. Read →
• FOXFox 5 [video] — Loudoun schools superintendent questioned in Congress. Watch →

Full photo & video set: Google Drive folder →

§ 01The hearing, and who was called

On Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 10:15 a.m., the full House Committee on Education and Workforce convened in Room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building for a hearing titled "Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America's Schools."¹

Three superintendents were called to testify: Dr. Macquline King of Chicago, Dr. Maria Su of San Francisco, and Dr. Aaron Spence of Loudoun County. The committee escalated to compel testimony after its invitations were not answered on the timeline it wanted.

§ 02Three working educators

These are not activists or political operatives. They are career educators running large, complicated districts, called away from that work to provide footage for a hearing.

• CPS Dr. Macquline King is a Chicago Public Schools graduate who spent more than a decade as a classroom teacher and principal before rising to lead the district. The Chicago Board of Education voted 18-1 to make her permanent CEO. Her contract begins July 1, 2026.²
• SFUSD Dr. Maria Su is a 25-year veteran of San Francisco public service who took over SFUSD in October 2024 to stabilize a district facing budget collapse. The Board extended her contract through June 2028.³
• LCPS Dr. Aaron Spence leads Loudoun County Public Schools, one of the largest districts in Virginia, serving more than 80,000 students.

Each of them was invited, and when the committee did not get the appearance it wanted on its timeline, it escalated. The work these leaders were hired to do, running schools for hundreds of thousands of kids, is not the work the committee called them to Washington to answer for.

§ 03What the hearing is actually about

The hearing was titled "Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America's Schools." It was built around a slate of culture-war bills that have no path to becoming law in this Congress.⁴

The bills will not pass. They are not meant to. The hearing is the product. The clips are the product. The superintendents are the props. Meanwhile the bills that could actually help kids, on teacher pay, school safety, and student mental health, sit in the same committee with no hearing at all.

§ 04The opportunity cost

While Dr. King and Dr. Su sat in Washington under oath, three districts of children kept showing up to school:

§ 05What parents are saying

The National Parents Union represents 1.7 million families through 1,800+ affiliated organizations across all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Our position on the June 10 hearing:

• 01 Send our superintendents back to work. Dr. King and Dr. Su have districts to run in the final weeks of the school year. The committee can put its questions in writing.
• 02 Stop using kids as props. The hearing's title and witness list are designed to produce footage, not legislation.
• 03 Move the bills that matter. There are bipartisan bills sitting in this committee right now on teacher pay, school safety, and student mental health. Give them a hearing.
• 04 Parents define parental rights. Not a committee. Not any single political party. Parents.