Owens shared his plans and ideas to give the power in education to parents and students. He spoke to the crowd virtually after a last-minute change. Education today is very different from what Owens remembers from his childhood, he told the group, saying that “correct” American history isn’t being taught anymore.

“How do you destroy the middle class? You take away education and critical thinking skills. You take anyway the ability to look back and be proud of their own ancestry and the lineage of our nation. One of the things I did growing up, I was very proud of American because my dad came back from war. We were taught to respect the flag, respect families and elders,” Owens said. “We have to get back to the fact that education is the way to getting back to being the great country we have the potential of being, we have to educate ourselves and kids to know how to think today and know about the success of the past.”

Owens stated his issues with a much of the nation’s educational system, arguing that children shouldn’t have to attend a specific school solely because it is within their zip code.

“We believe in freedom in this country,” he said. “Why is it that we aren’t free to put our kids in the best schools possible no matter where we live, what our color is or what our zip code is? Why is that the one area that there’s no meritocracy?”

To put people on a path towards “educational freedom,” Owens believes people need to focus less on protecting the Second Amendment and more on school safety. Students in most Utah County schools will be back in classrooms over the next week.

“Let’s make sure that when we drop our kids off at school, they remain safe,” he said.

Owens introduced the Securing Our Students Act in June. It would allow unspent money from the American Rescue Plan to be given to every school district to implement safety measures.

“My deal is why don’t we take some of that money back, have each district decide how they need it. Some districts might want to have software programs in place. I’ve had a chance to see remarkable software that if somebody comes in with a hidden gun, it sees it, the doors lock and it calls 911. Some districts may be comfortable with resource officers,” Owens said. “Whatever it takes, every district in the county for this coming semester should be flooded with money to take care of these specific things.”

Other steps toward giving educational power, Owens argues, include letting children and parents have a say in what direction they want education to be geared towards. Owens also wants to create a bill of transparency to allow parents access to what curriculum children will be taught — in order to decide if they want to keep their children at that school.

“What came from the last two years is that now we understand why our kids can’t think anymore,” he said. “It’s amazing what we now see because of what is taught in the classroom without parents’ knowledge. We believe there should be a parent’s bill of rights that is transparency. We should know the curriculum, what books they are reading.”