The grassroots parent-based effort to reform public education predated, by more than a decade, the national awakening to problems in the schools. It began when parents became aware that the educational establishment perceived its "duty" to mold children's attitudes as a higher priority than the school's cognitive function and certainly superior to parental prerogatives to guide their children's spiritual and moral growth. Parents seek to increase school standards, return teaching to the basics, counter the promotion of ethical relativism and value neutrality, prevent children from being subjected to federally funded experimental programs, gain educational information, and build more power for themselves. Toward these ends, many parent groups have formed, funded by parents themselves, and have lent support to legislation such as the Hatch Amendment and to fighting the National Education Association in states such as Arizona. Parents have learned that federal dollars allow the federal government to exercise control over local schools, as a variety of programs are instituted; this money must be controlled in order to restore basic education and end the ideological manipulation of children. The solution to this nation's educational problems is not money, but a change in priorities. (DCS)