Foundation Has New Board Chairman, VP

At its annual meeting on March 24, the Parental Rights Foundation’s Board of Directors elected William Wagner, J.D., to serve as it’s new chairman of the board. Wagner succeeds James Mason, whose departure after five years in the position was due to his belief that “this is an appropriate and healthy moment for board-level leadership renewal.” Mason and the Foundation continue to enjoy a positive, amicable relationship. 

Chairman William Wagner

William Wagner is no stranger to Parental Rights. He was already on the board and serving as vice-president when I came to ParentalRights.org in 2008. (Michael Farris was president at the time.) William stepped away from the board for a few years in the 2010’s to focus on launching The Wagner Faith & Freedom Center of Spring Arbor University, but returned in 2017 and was quickly elected back to the vice-president position. He stepped down from the VP role upon his election to board chairman on the 24th.

Wagner is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Cooley Law School in Michigan with a B.A. from Western Michigan University, a J.D. from Saint Louis University, and a Post-Doctoral Danforth Fellowship in Law. He has over 30 years of high-level legal, executive, and academic experience, including service as a US Magistrate judge for the Northern District of Florida; as a legal adviser and chief American diplomat for the Department of Justice at an American Embassy in Africa; as a United States Courts’ Commissioner to Canada; and as legal counsel in the United States Senate.

He has written extensively on parental rights throughout his career, including:

• William Wagner, Revisiting Divine, Natural, and Common Law Foundations Underlying Parental Liberty to Direct and Control the Upbringing of Children, ___ W. AUSTL. JURIST ___ (2014).
• William Wagner, Some Thoughts on Preserving Democratic Institutions and Protecting Children, 5 T.M. COOLEY J. PRAC. & CLINICAL L. 227 (2002).
• William Wagner, God, Government, and Parental Rights, in VACCINE EPIDEMIC (Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland eds., 2011).

(You can see his full bibliography at cooley.edu/faculty/William-Wagner.)

Professor Wagner and his wife, Marilyn, married in 1986 and home educated their (now adult) children.

William’s views on parental rights and vision for the future of the Parental Rights Foundation  were the subject of this week’s EPPiC Broadcast podcast episode, so I invite you to listen.

Vice-President Patti Sullivan

Upon Wagner’s election to chairman, the board elected Patti Sullivan of Parental Rights Florida to fill the vice-president role he vacated. Patti and her husband, Jim, have served on the Parental Rights Foundation board since 2017, and led parental rights efforts in Florida since December, 2013. While the two together form the spearhead of our Florida efforts, both would agree Patti is the tip of that spearhead.

Most recently, Patti spent three months away from her home in Vero Beach so she could be “on the ground” in Tallahassee for the 2026 legislative session. She worked to build relationships with lawmakers and try to move legislation favorable to parental rights. This year, the results were mixed, but good groundwork has been laid for success in 2027.

That is to say nothing of the tremendous success in passing the Parents’ Bill of Rights back in 2021, followed by the Parental Rights in Education Act in 2022. Together, these laws preserve parental rights in the Sunshine State, even leading to the formation in 2025 of the nation’s first Office of Parental Rights in the office of Attorney General James Uthmeier. Patti was a founding force behind all these successes, and we are grateful to have her on the board and serving as the new VP.

(You can find Patti on our EPPiC Broadcast, too including in this episode from Season 4 in 2022.)

An Independent Future

This change in leadership effects the complete independence of the Parental Rights Foundation from Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a sort of “parent organization” for which we will forever be grateful (and of which Jim Mason is the president). We remain on friendly terms and in partnership on the issue of parental rights (especially in education, their area of focus). But this independence will strengthen our ability to reach across the political aisle in our efforts to preserve parental rights for all and one day to secure the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Of course, it also means we are independent financially, and your economic support of our mission will be deeply appreciated. Please consider making your best investment to the Foundation here.

I am excited for the future of the Foundation, and for the passionate leadership that Will Wagner and Patti Sullivan provide for the road ahead. Thank you for standing with us, as always, to protect children by empowering parents.