EDWATCHDAILY IS OPPOSED TO THIS LITTLE PIECE OF THEATER. This is the moral equivalent of saying that we should give chattel slaves a bill of rights that will improve their working and living conditions but doesn’t challenge their enslavement!!! “Parents’ Bill of Rights is needed to combat Left’s indoctrination of students.”
As just about every parent with school-aged kids knows, the Left is trying to shut parents out of education.
Joe Biden’s Justice Department has tried to turn the FBI into a monitor of school board meetings, with one DOJ official going so far as to draw up lists of federal crimes for which parents could be prosecuted. Failed Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe spoke the Democrat Party’s mind when he infamously said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
Wrong. Parents have every right to direct their children’s education, as the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized. Parents make our schools work. The Left’s concerted effort to silence parents’ speech and ridicule their concerns is dangerous – for our children, our schools, and our democracy. It’s time to do something about it.
That’s why I’m proposing a Parents’ Bill of Rights, for every mom and dad in America. My proposal would guarantee them the seat at the table they deserve, one that no bureaucrat – or political party – can take away. . . .
But parents shouldn’t have to fight these battles for their children’s future alone. It’s past time for Congress to declare, clearly and firmly, the rights that American parents have over their children’s education.
Those parental rights begin with a right to transparency – to know what their kids are being taught, and by whom.
Likewise, parents have a right to know whether their tax dollars are funding trainings saturated with racist agitprop. Parents should be able to check in on their kids at school, and to know immediately of any safety issues at their kids’ campuses. And parents should be able to access all school data concerning their children, as well as control how any third-party groups use that personal data.
Finally, parents should have the right to be heard at school board meetings, without any fear of reprisal from Biden’s Justice Department.
In addition to writing them in law, Congress also needs to give these parental rights teeth. Where any of these rights are infringed, parents should be able to sue to enforce them. If schools or districts refuse to cooperate, their federal funding should be on the chopping block.
Related. Hawley is appalled by all the things he should be appalled by, but his Parents’ Bill of Rights completely misses the target: “Hawley to introduce ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ to counter ‘woke bureaucrats’ taking over schools.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., will introduce a bill to defend parents’ rights in their children’s education, Fox News has learned.
“America has long recognized the right of parents to direct their children’s education but we are now seeing a concerted effort by the Left to shut parents out,” Hawley said in a draft statement, obtained by Fox News, on the forthcoming bill. “Whether it’s Joe Biden’s Justice Department attempting to classify parents as ‘domestic terrorists’ or activists funded by dark money who seek to quietly introduce critical race theory into school curricula, education has taken a back seat to radical politics in many schools and parents are taking notice.
“It’s time to give control back to parents, not woke bureaucrats, and empower them to start a new era of openness in education,” Hawley added.
The forthcoming legislation will lay out eight rights parents should have regarding their children’s education, and it will empower parents to sue schools that do not protect these rights. A pattern of such violations in a particular jurisdiction will trigger major reductions in federal education funding under the bill.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights will set forth these rights:
- The right to know what their minor child is being taught in school, including, but not limited to, curricula, books, and other instructional materials.
- The right to information on who is teaching their minor child, including guest lecturers and outside presenters.
- The right to information on individuals and organizations receiving school contracts and funding.
- The right to visit the school and check in on their minor child during school hours.
- The right to all school records, medical or otherwise, concerning their minor child.
- The right to information about the collection and transmission of their minor child’s data.
- The right to have sufficient accountability and transparency regarding school boards.
- The right to know about situations affecting their minor child’s safety in school.
- The bill will require that “school board meetings pertaining to curricula, safety, and other student issues shall be held in public and allow for public comments.”