Bill giving parents more say in school curriculum advances
The GOP-led House of Representatives on Friday voted to advance controversial legislation aimed at providing parents with more control over what is being taught in public school classrooms.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights act narrowly passed in a vote of 213-208, with just five Republicans — most of them members of the House Freedom Caucus — voting against it. The legislation is headed next to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass the Democratic-led chamber.
Critics of the bill fear it will politicize classrooms and further advance the far-right movement, which has in recent months imposed book bans as well as restrictions on teaching about race, LGBTQ and transgender subjects in a number of schools across the nation.
It would require schools to publish curricula in advance as well as provide a list of books kept in their libraries.
The legislation also affirms parents’ rights to address school boards — about anything from budgets to lesson plans — which critics say could lead to “raucous school board meetings across the country.”
Rep. Lauren Boeber (R-Colo.) successfully pushed for an amendment that would force schools to report when transgender girls join girls’ athletics
teams and disclose whether trans girls are allowed to use girls’ restrooms or locker rooms. It would also require elementary and middle school officials to obtain parents’ consent before changing a student’s gender designation, pronouns or name.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed the bill would meet “a dead end,” declaring it’s an example that the GOP has been overrun by “hard right MAGA ideologues.”
Democrats across chambers echoed the sentiment and have dubbed the legislation the “Politics over Parents Act.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) touted the vote Friday as a victory, proclaiming it is evidence that the Republican Party is “keeping our promise, our commitment to America, that parents will have a say in their kids’ education.”