Texas Gov. Greg Abbott introduces ‘Parental Bill of Rights’ targeting state education system

https://www.chron.com/politics/article/Texas-Parental-Bill-of-Rights-Greg-Abbott-schools-16791504.php

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday evening plans to amend the Texas Constitution with a Parent Bill of Rights if he is re-elected. The proposal follows Abbott’s introduction of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights this week. 

Abbott publicly signed the bill at an event hosted by the Founders Classical Academy of Lewisville, where he criticized schools shutting down during the pandemic and issuing mask mandates. He said the bill will help restore parents as the primary decision-makers of their child’s education and healthcare decisions.

“No government program can replace the role that parents play in the education of their children,” Abbott told the audience. “Our focal point is to ensure that parents are put at the forefront, both of education of their children as well as the decision-making for their child’s healthcare.”

Abbott continued to impart that the government often intrudes on parental decision-making and threatens the role guardians have in their child’s wellbeing. “Many parents are growing increasingly powerless about what to do to regain that control,” Abbott said. “That must end.”

Under the bill, Abbott said the state’s constitution will be amended to “make clear that parents are the primary decision makers in all matters involving their children.” The bill will expand parents access to school curriculum and ensure material is available online or in other easily accessible ways, he said. 

“We will make sure parents concerns about school curriculum or policies will be heard quickly and respectfully,’ Abbott said, adding that under his plan the state will give parents the option if their child will repeat a course or grade level instead of leaving the decision solely to the school district.

To protect children’s privacy in schools, the state will also prohibit the selling or the sharing of students’ personal data outside of the Texas public education system, Abbott said.

Abbott, who is running for reelection, has made it a point to target inappropriate content in schools. In November, he directed the Texas Education Agency to develop statewide standards preventing “obscene content in Texas public schools.” Shortly after he told the agency to investigate criminal activity related to “the availability of pornography” in public schools, saying the agency should refer to such instances “for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”

Parents. Matter.

Under my Parental Bill of Rights, we will amend the Texas Constitution to reinforce that parents are the main decision makers in all matters involving their children. pic.twitter.com/z64eobbk7Y

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 21, 2022

Under the Parent Bill of Rights, Abbott said any educator convicted of providing minors with “obscene” content will lose their educational credentials and state licensing, forfeit their retirement benefits and will be placed on a “do not hire” list. The state will also require schools to post the bill online for parents to access.

“Also school districts will be required to provide parents with information and options for charter schools, magnet schools and other public schools as alternatives for their children,” Abbott said. 

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett, who served under President Ronald Reagan, congratulated Abbott on the bill and reiterated the importance of parents involvement in classroom issues. He said the bill will likely be imitated in other states. “Not every teacher is a parent but every parent is a teacher,” Bennett said. “We know that the parents influence on the child is the greatest influence of any adult…We need to restore the priority of the parent to the classroom and to the child’s education which is what you are doing.”

Bennett also advised parents to not be “intimidated by the cult of expertise.” “When it comes to education of children, if you don’t understand what they’re talking about, you’re probably right and they’re probably wrong,” he said. “It’s not complicated what to teach children and what parents want schools to do is teach children how to read, write, count and think and develop reliable standards of right and wrong.”

Abbott’s action follows the lead of other Republican leaders across the U.S. who have issued similar bills. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a Parents Bill of Rights in June of 2021. The Intercultural Development Research Association, which has voiced opposition to Abbott’s “critical race theory” bill that went into effect in December, issued a statement Thursday denouncing the governor’s bill, calling it another coordinated attack on the rights of students, parents and teachers in public schools. 

We expect to see a “parent’s bill of rights” released in Texas today. If it’s anything like similar proposals, it will be nothing more than a coordinated attack on the rights of students, parents, and teachers in public schools. #TeachtheTruth
🧵https://t.co/MYtNi6epKX

— IDRA (@IDRAedu) January 20, 2022

“All families must be part of building excellent and equitable schools regardless of their racial or ethnic background or socio-economic status,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, many schools have not prioritized or invested in developing authentic relationships with families, particularly those of color, those with limited incomes, and immigrant families.”

The IDRA also called out groups attempting to pit families and schools against each other with the goal of passing legislation that “whitewashes and simplifies” history.

“These groups, who purport to represent values such as ‘equality’ and ‘transparency’ are feeding some families inaccurate information about their schools and encouraging them to make harmful demands and violent interventions in school policymaking to advance policies that actually widen inequalities and exclusion,” the statement said. “They are pushing their economic, social, and political agendas under the name of ‘parent engagement.’ This is dangerous.” 

Please notice it is the right wing ideas and parents that are being encouraged to interfere, given authority over the classroom, and are being touted as needing to tell schools what to teach.   If you are progressive, believe in equality, understanding, and tolerance, then keep it to your self.   This is simply an attempt to legalize brain washing kids into a right wing 1950’s agenda / propaganda.   Remember get the kids young, drill into them to be good little republican worker bees and you got a bunch of future white supremacist running around.   Not all kids will go that way, but look at the problems we have in the rural areas of red states where this basically has been done in their schools.  The Christian white nationalist right wing Republican is a minority trying desperately to keep the power and advantage the had to continue to rule as they did.   It is that simple.   They are using the same tactics Putin used and farmed out to other authoritarian states to demonize and then erase LGBTQ+ people from their societies.   They idea of no mask or never shutting schools is to keep the parents working.   The wealthy lost a lot of profit of the workers, need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.   Why is the only parents that matter over healthcare are the anti-maskers?   Why do those kids get to make other kids / families sick?  Also notice the constant slam that the educators and the educated are wrong.  If you don’t understand what the teacher is saying then the teacher is wrong!    Don’t trust science and facts, go with myth and make believe to again be a good dumb worker bee.    Scottie