The House passed legislation on Friday to create a Parents Bill of Rights that would require schools to publish their curricula publicly and to share with parents a list of books and other materials that are available in school libraries.
The bill, which passed in a 213-208 vote, would also require schools to allow parents to meet with their children's teachers and to alert parents when violence occurs on campus. The measure would also give parents a voice when schools create or update policies and procedures surrounding student privacy.
In response to the National School Boards Association’s effort to have the Biden administration crack down on parent protesters, who they accused of carrying out “domestic terrorism,” the bill also says school and government officials "should never seek to use law enforcement to criminalize the lawfully expressed concerns of parents about their children's education," and that the "First Amendment guarantees parents and other stakeholders the right to assemble and express their opinions on decisions affecting their children and communities."
The legislation passed the House largely along party lines, though Republican Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mike Lawler of New York, Matt Rosendale of Montana and Ken Buck of Colorado voted against the measure.
The bill is unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Democrats have taken to calling the bill the "Politics over Parents Act," which is reminiscent of their rhetoric around Florida's Parental Rights in Education law. The Florida law, which Democrats have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibits instructors from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.
Some Democratic lawmakers have claimed the Parents Bill of Rights could make it easier for books to be banned in schools, among other criticisms.
"I think what we're seeing here today is the Republicans' attempt, Republican Party's attempt, to take some of the most heinous legislation that we are seeing passed on the state level to attack our trans and LGBT as well as people from marginalized communities right to exist in schools," Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said Thursday.
Representative Julia Letlow (R., La.), who reintroduced the Parents Bill of Rights this month after it failed to receive a vote in the Democrat-controlled House when she first introduced it in 2021, dismissed these claims.
"This bill is not complex or complicated," Letlow said on the House floor Thursday. "Nor should it be partisan or polarizing, and contrary to what you may hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it is not an attack on our hard working teachers, who will always be the heroes in my eyes."
"It is not an attempt to have Congress dictate their curriculum or determine the books in the library," she added. "Instead, this bill aims to bring more transparency and accountability to education, allowing parents to be informed and when they have questions and concerns to lawfully bring them to their local school boards."
Representative Lauren Boebert (R., Colo.) offered two amendments to the bill, both of which were approved, that would require schools to tell parents if it operates, sponsors or facilitates athletic programs or activities that allow students to participate on a team that does not correspond with their biological sex and to tell parents if it allows students to use a bathroom or changing room that does not correspond with their biological sex.
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