GOP introduces bill to boost parents’ classroom rights in latest education war salvo ahead of 2024
blocking a high school course on Black history to bills restricting LGBTQ education.
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The ‘Great Resignation’ hits school boards: Only 38% of members want to run for reelection
What is the Parents Bill of Rights?
Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., said the legislation would give parents the rights to:
- Know what’s being taught in schools (including reviewing reading materials)
- See school budgets and understand how schools spend money
- Protect a child’s privacy
- Receive updates on any violent activities at a school
The legislation will require all curriculums to be made public, including any materials in a school library or classroom.
It’s not just Virginia. Education and critical race theory are on the ballot across the US in 2022.
In midterms, Republicans campaigned on schools
McCarthy pledged to to introduce a “parents’ bill of rights” in 2021 and Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a similar bill the same year to “give control back to parents, not woke bureaucrats.”
parents who are unhappy that lessons and books about racism, sexual orientation and gender are being taught in schools.
Republicans campaigned in 2022 against critical race theory. which argues racism is embedded in U.S. laws and institutions, being taught in schools and used it to express dissatisfaction with school curriculum. There is little evidence CRT is widely taught — or taught at all — in public schools.
Parents want kids to learn about ongoing effects of slavery – but not critical race theory. They’re the same thing.
National Parents Union dub bill ‘political performance theatre’
Critics of the legislation say the bill has more to do with culture wars than with providing resources for students.
“This bill would lead to more education bans, which takes books off classroom shelves and will therefore limit access to education for millions of kids across the country,” the National Parents Union, an activist group, said in a statement.
More:Schools are becoming hotbeds of political conflict – especially in purple districts