Parents’ Bill of Rights bill disguises moral panic as responsible legislating

The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Rabbi Moti Rieber is executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, a statewide, multifaith issue-advocacy organization that works on a variety of social, economic and climate justice issues.

In a legislative session with a lot of education policy in the works, one of the more under-the-radar, yet potentially dangerous, bills is the so-called Parents’ Bill of Rights.

On the surface, this measure might seem reasonable. Who could argue with this: “Every parent of a child in this state shall have a right to direct the upbringing, education, care and mental health of the parent’s child”? The problem comes with the rights that are delineated underneath this seemingly reasonable attitude.

Let me tell you my own story: My wife and I put our three kids through the Shawnee Mission school district, the youngest graduating in 2021. As a member of a religious minority, I knew they would be exposed to things in school that were not in keeping with our family’s values. My kids went to supplemental religious school through the age of 15, and they also received extensive religious and moral training at home. We often discussed issues that came up in school in the context of our family’s beliefs and values. I always knew that it was my wife’s and my responsibility to tend to our children’s spiritual development, and I didn’t need the Kansas Legislature to pass a law to tell me so. It’s called “parenting.”

That’s the first reason this bill is unnecessary. Most if not all the important provisions in the PBOR are already in place. It’s easier than ever to know what kids are learning in school; every school district has online portals that keep parents in nearly real-time touch with their students’ curriculum and performance. I always felt that I could email or call the teacher or administration with questions or concerns.

The idea that things are being taught behind parents’ backs, or that teachers or administrators won’t talk to parents, is not in keeping with my experience.

The PBOR is an outgrowth of the current moral panic on the political right about the teaching of so-called critical race theory in schools. What we have seen in other states is that when such laws are passed, books are pulled from libraries and curriculums, teachers and administrators are harassed, and important lessons about our country’s history and culture are suppressed, for fear of becoming the next victim of a Fox News pile-on.

In fact, that seems to be exactly what the PBOR is anticipating. It holds that no student or teacher will be forced to teach or learn any idea that “violates the civil rights act of 1964.” There is in fact nothing that taught in any Kansas public school that violates that act. If there were, it would already be illegal under that very act, and we wouldn’t need the PBOR to make it so.

In its very last section, the bill reads that any parent may “challenge the material or educational benefit of any book, magazine or any other material available to students in the school library.” What is this but an invitation to censorship, to any easily offended parent (or right-wing activist) to bring lawsuits against our already overstressed school districts?

Another section of the bill holds that one of the rights that parents have is to decide on immunizations for their children. This measure would help to undermine mandatory childhood vaccinations, which have had immeasurable positive effects on children’s health across multiple generations.

Some will say that the bill is more of a statement of purpose than an actual, enforceable statute. But other lawyers have looked at the bill and seen a lot of measures that in the hands of, say, an ambitious attorney general, could cause real damage to our public schools.

The PBOR indicates a level of hostility from some legislators toward public education in Kansas that is frankly shocking. It’s is the product of people who think that if educators aren’t tightly controlled, they will be out of control. I don’t believe this antagonistic attitude is shared by most Kansans, who are rightly proud of our strong public education system. There is nothing in the PBOR that isn’t already available to parents throughout the state. Any teacher will tell you that it’s always the parents who don’t show up for parents’ nights, teacher conferences and the like who will complain the loudest. But you can’t legislate parental engagement.

As my own experience demonstrates, parents are already in charge of their children’s education, as well as their moral and spiritual upbringing. No legislation is needed. The Parents’ Bill of Rights has a lot of dangerous implications for public education in Kansas, and I urge leadership of both chambers to leave it on the drawing board where it belongs.

Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.