The bill prevents any government
institution from infringing on the
fundamental rights of a parent to
direct the upbringing, education,
health care and mental health
of a child.
"It is a fundamental right of
parents to direct the upbringing,
education and care of their minor
children." That's the opening line
of Florida's Parent's Bill of
Rights, signed into law in June
2021.
Similar bills have been proposed in
Missouri, Kentucky, Texas and
even at the federal level.
Our children do not belong to
the government.
Patty Sullivan is the state
coordinator for Parental Rights
Florida, which has pushed for a
parent's bill of Rights since 2013.
We do not co-parent with
the government, and these
entities seem to think
that they are entitled
to our children and they are
not.
State bans on the teaching of
critical race theory, which have
swept the nation, are also an
attempt to limit the discretion
that teachers and administrators
have over what's taught in school.
They've been especially popular with
voters.
Republican Glenn Youngkin ousted
the heavily favored Terry McAuliffe
in the Virginia governor's race
after he campaigned against
critical race theory in schools
and on his first day in office.
He banned it from classrooms via
executive order.
Four other states have also banned
CRT.
Several more are considering similar
bills. However, opponents
say that curriculum transparency
bills are just thinly veiled
attempts at chilling teachers
and students from learning and
talking about race and gender in
schools.
As the ACLU recently tweeted,
parents have never had the right to
shape their kids' school curriculum.
Authors of a recent Washington Post
op ed argued If that's what parents
want, they should opt out and send
their children to private or
religious schools.
But why should families who can
afford private school be the only
ones who have a say in what their
children are taught?
I'm pretty skeptical of the
government deciding what should be
taught in any type of school.
Corey DeAngelis is the national
director of research for the
American Federation for Children and
a senior fellow at the Reason
Foundation.
He says public school parents should
also have the right to choose the
right academic setting for their
kids. The solution is to fund
students, not systems, giving
families the choice to spend
education dollars on the schooling
of their choosing instead of the
one size fits all approach offered
by traditional public schools.
These bills are just a form of whack
a mole where your CRT battles
of today were the common
core battles of yesterday,
and it'll be something else
going forward because the reality
is parents disagree
about what kind of education
they want their kids to have.
Families have different preferences,
risk tolerance levels
and desires for their kids education
and how they want their kids raised.
And that's OK.
And the better solution is the
bottom up accountability, allowing
families to vote with their feet.
Obviously, they can seek an
education provider that aligns with
their values.
This has become such a hot button
issue because the pandemic gave
parents direct exposure to exactly
what their children were and weren't
being taught.
Parents are awake now that they have
seen the curriculum that's been
streamed into their living room as
they watch their children do these
school assignments.
Tina Descovich is a former Provide
County Florida school board member
and co-founder of Moms for Liberty.
They now understand school district
policies, which they have never
looked at before. They are
understanding the structure and who
holds authority and what types of
authority within the education
system. I think that's vital, and
it's something that's been lacking
for a long time.
In contrast to critical race theory
bans, the Florida Parental Bill of
Rights broadly affirms that parents
have a right to know what schools
are teaching and providing to their
children.
One of the most controversial
aspects of the bill is how it
applies to medical and mental health
services.
It establishes that any medical
services provided without parental
consent can result in misdemeanor
charges.
Sullivan says some parents are
particularly concerned that schools
are counseling their kids on their
sexuality and gender without
parental consent.
The parents of one student in a
Tallahassee public school sued after
the staff held a meeting without
their knowledge to discuss
accommodating their 13 year old
shift to a nonbinary gender
identity. They also noted in a filed
the students privacy when speaking
to parents had to be considered.
School districts are not medical
facilities. That's a complicated
issue, and there should be
no reason why parents
should not be aware of what's going
on with their children.
It is a complicated issue.
Where do the rights of parents end
and the privacy rights of teenagers
who want to confide in a trusted
teacher or counselor begin?
It was a topic hotly debated on the
floor of the Florida Legislature
preceding the passage of the bill.
The bill says that they can be
fired.
For giving the student
critical advice
during their time of need, if
that advice
includes,
maybe you should wait to
come out to your parents,
some of our young LGBTQ plus
kids who are worried that if
they talk to a teacher or a
counselor about their gender
identity or sexual orientation, that
they're going to be outed to their
parents,
we have to provide and
should provide some
confidentiality for those students
to be able to reach
for a lifeline
with a trusted educator.
The law states that they must
share all information with a parent.
That's the law.
You don't think that that's a
problem in terms of, you know,
a teenager having some privacy
rights.
The when they're
18, they
gain those privacy
rights.
And even Fariba makes
it very clear that it's a parent and
child relationship that's
dealing with privacy together.
So I think that
it's very important that we maintain
the fact that these parents are
entrusting their children to
these entities and they
are not qualified or equipped
to make those decisions.
We force families into a one size
fits all government run school
system, and these bills try to
prohibit or encourage
certain types of policies in that
one size fits all system.
The only way to move forward with
freedom rather than force is
to allow the money to follow the
child to wherever they want to
get an education that aligns best
with their parents values.
The pandemic related school closures
have bolstered the school choice
movement, with 22 states expanding,
improving or implementing new school
choice programs in 2021.
Florida is already far ahead of most
states and providing parents with
school choice, but DeAngelis says
this should go farther by offering
universal vouchers, which would
truly empower parents and children
to opt for any school of their
choosing.
Funding students directly truly
empowers parents when it comes
to their kids education.
That is the best way to assert
those rights.
Teachers unions have finally
overplayed their hand, showed their
true colors and awakened a sleeping
giant, which happens to be parents
who want more of a say in their
kids' education.
At this point, the teachers unions
are actively destroying their own
empire, and it's actually pretty
glorious. And I'm optimistic going
forward because parents
have woken up.
Parents felt powerless in 2020,
and they're going to fight to make
sure they never feel powerless ever
again going forward.