Georgia has joined a growing list of states pushing back against extreme leftist indoctrination in public schools. As teachers, school administrators, and other education authorities across the country have opted for more and more “woke” curricula and lessons in the classroom — including classroom discussion aimed at sexualizing younger and younger children — the Peach State’s new Parents’ Bill of Rights recognizes parents’ authority to decide the material their children are taught in schools.
Republican Governor Brian Kemp had long signaled his support of the bill. In fact, he pressed for just such a bill and proudly announced back in February that it had been introduced. An official statement announcing the creation of the bill said:
Today, Governor Brian P. Kemp’s floor leaders, Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett) and Representative Josh Bonner (R-Fayetteville), introduced legislation to establish a Parents’ Bill of Rights to increase transparency in education by ensuring school districts have procedures in place for parental participation in schools.
“At a time when our nation is more divided than ever, we’re leading the fight to ensure parents do not have any barriers which prevent them from playing an active role in their child’s education,” said Governor Kemp. “As the parents of three daughters, Marty and I know students do best when their parents have a seat at the table and their voices are heard and respected. This bill is the product of a months-long, information-gathering campaign which includes the input of superintendents, teachers, parents, and other education stakeholders. At its core, it is about transparency, access, and promoting an engaged partnership between the parent and educators to the ultimate benefit of the student.”
The Parents’ Bill of Rights — which had already passed in the House on March 4 — passed in the Senate Friday. Given Kemp’s ardent support of the bill, it was sure to become law once it cleared the General Assembly.
As the Washington Examiner reported:
The bill was passed by the Peach State’s Senate on Friday and outlines the rights of parents to review classroom materials, opt their children out of sex education, access all records related to their child, and prevent the creation of photos, videos, and voice recordings of their children, except for security purposes.
“Parents have a right to be actively involved in their child’s learning experience,” Kemp, a Republican, said in a tweet after the bill passed the Senate. “This bill will ensure transparency in education by promoting a partnership between parents [and] educators.”
When the bill cleared the House in March, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that it passed “along party lines except for one Democrat who sided with Republicans.” The paper also reported that — not surprisingly — not everyone sees the bill as a positive thing:
Proponents say parents have the right to see what their children are being taught. Opponents call it an invasive and unnecessary demand on teachers’ time.
The legislation comes after parents across the country grew restless with mask mandates and virtual schooling, with parents of younger students witnessing the daily details of classrooms online. Some liked what they saw and some didn’t.
And:
Democrats cast it as an election-year ploy to engage Republican voters, in a move that they said casts teachers as the adversary.
“All this does is set up a fight and logistical nightmares for our teachers to deal with,” said Rep. Stacey Evans, D-Atlanta. Parents will inevitably believe teachers have withheld information, she said, inviting mistrust. “This is going to keep the lawyers pretty busy trying to figure out what was and wasn’t produced.”
It is telling that Democrats and their mainstream-media comrades could see — or pretend to see — a bill designed to return some modicum of control to parents as “invasive” or as “an election-year ploy.” But perhaps it would be asking a bit too much of the very people responsible for creating the problem to welcome anything that might serve as its solution.
The bill flies in the face of “woke” indoctrination, codifying into law the rights of parents to access any material their children are taught in school. As Kemp’s announcement back in February stated:
These bills codify parental rights when it comes to their child’s education into law, including the right to access instructional material. The bills affirm a parent’s ability to request information from a principal or superintendent and requires that they provide the requested information within 3 working days. If the principal or superintendent is unable to share the information within that timeframe, they must provide the parent with a description of the material and a timeline for its delivery, not to exceed 30 days.
Describing the bill, Representative Josh Bonner (R-Fayetteville) said, “Parents have the primary responsibility for educating their children,” adding, “This legislation will provide needed transparency and access for parents as they partner with teachers to achieve the best possible outcomes.”
That Democrats balk at that says more about them than it does about any genuine objections to the bill. And while the education establishment is firmly against the bill, that is not true of all teachers in the Peach State. Lauren Plair teaches first grade at Hahira Elementary School in rural Hahira, Georgia. She said, “We appreciate Governor Kemp and his team for leading and encouraging parental involvement,” adding, “The students and their success is the ‘why’ behind what we do each and every day. In order to see students reach their ultimate goals, it is vital that parents and teachers work together as a team! Parents who give their input, time, and dedication to their child’s education create an investment that is valuable to all students.”
Sadly, the education establishment does not agree with Plair, preferring an approach that tells parents to keep out and leave the formation of their children to “the experts.”
But with the passage of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, parents and those teachers who — like Plair — want to work with parents instead of against them have at least a hope in Georgia.
