Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has introduced legislation titled the Parents’ Bill of Rights Act to protect parents’ rights to educate children how they see fit, Townhall reported.
The bill would include eight listed “rights” of parents, including the guaranteeing of a parent’s right to review the school’s curriculum.
If any of these rights were restricted, parents would have legitimate grounds on which to sue federally-funded schools.
Along with requirements to disclose information about curricula, schools would also be required to disclose information regarding outside groups the school has signed contracts with. It also states that school board meetings about “curricula, safety, and other student issues” must be held in public and allow for public comments.
“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 wrote in a press release.
“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,” he said, “education has taken a back seat to radical politics in many schools and parents are taking notice.”
Hawley also emphasized the importance of removing education from the hands of woke administrators and returning it to the people.
“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 said.
Hawley’s concerns are reasonably justified given developments in public education.
Recently, Jann–Michael Greenburg, president of Arizona’s Scottsdale Unified Public School District, was alleged to possess a dossier containing the names of parents who opposed Critical Race Theory.
Meanwhile, California has determined that its schools will scrap the traditional letter-grading system in the name of “racial equity.”