Souza’s ‘parental rights’ bill clears House Ed without opposition
Sen. Mary Souza’s parental rights bill cleared the House Education Committee without objection today, after Souza told the panel that unlike last year, “We are very pleased to see that this year it is being received in a much more positive way – there is no known opposition to this bill this year, which is wonderful.”
The measure, SB 1293a, has several changes from last year’s bill, including amendments added in the Senate to address concerns from home-schooling groups, Souza said. “This bill is invitational, to bring parents into the process and to require schools to create plans so that parents can be informed of their child’s, the literature or the materials that are used in their child’s education,” she said. “They have an open invitation to come and be part of the process. And … it does require an annual notice of these rights to go out to parents.”
Also new in this year’s version, Souza said, “Parents have a right under this bill to ask the school for reasonable accommodation.” That’s defined in the bill, which says, “‘Reasonable accommodation’ means the school shall make its best effort to enable a parent or guardian to exercise their rights without substantial impact to staff and resources, including employee working conditions, safety and supervision on school premises for school activities and the efficient allocation of expenditures, while balancing the parental rights of parents and guardians, the educational needs of other students, the academic and behavioral impacts to a classroom, a teacher's workload and the assurance of the safe and efficient operations of the school.”
“That language seems to make everyone feel more comfortable,” Souza said.
The bill also requires schools to develop “a process by which parents who object to any learning material or activity on the basis that it harms the child or impairs the parents' firmly held beliefs, values or principles, may withdraw their child from the activity, class or program in which the material is used.”
Souza said, “The school doesn’t have to replace the curricula that might be missed. … There is no expectation on the school to be responsible for the consequences of removing that child from the activity.”
Asked for a “real-life example” of how this would work, Souza said a child was struggling with new methods of teaching math last year, and her parents decided to pull her out of math class and have her take an online math class instead. “That was very successful for her,” Souza said, “and this year she’s in a traditional classroom the whole day again and is very happy.”
Rep. Julie VanOrden, R-Pingree, moved to send the bill to the full House with a recommendation that it “do pass,” and the motion carried on a voice vote. The bill earlier passed the Senate, 32-2. Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, said he’d like to carry the bill in the House. If it passes there and receives the governor’s signature, it would become law.
