After Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a statewide “parents bill of rights” this spring, a school board in the Kansas City area passed its own — outlining a set of rights parents may employ over their child’s education, including reviewing and objecting to books and curriculum.
The Lansing school board in Leavenworth County last week voted 4-3 to approve a parents bill of rights, modeled after Republican-supported legislation that Kelly vetoed this spring, calling the measure a “teacher demoralization act.” The Kansas House failed to override the veto, but Republicans made the issue — along with a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls sports, which also was vetoed — a hallmark of campaigns this summer.
“Our parents must always have a seat at the table. I’m not saying that they don’t necessarily now, but they must always have that,” said Lansing board member Amy Cawvey, who proposed the measure.
“Hopefully we will get increased parental engagement with this. We work for you. And parents are critical. They’re very critical to the child’s academic success. And this will ensure parents have influence and the transparency that they deserve.”
Across the country, Republican lawmakers pushed for parents bill of rights and other “curriculum transparency” measures, arguing that schools needed to increase transparency and parent involvement. The wave of legislation came after school boards for months hosted debates over COVID-19 masks, banning books, "critical race theory" — a college-level academic concept not taught in K-12 schools — and curriculum on race.
Many public school advocates and teachers fought back, arguing that parents were already afforded the rights spelled out in the legislation. Some teachers told The Kansas City Star that they already provide parents with learning materials and are happy to address complaints as they arise. They worried that such legislation would have a chilling effect on open and flexible classroom instruction.
Like the proposed parents bill of rights in the Kansas Legislature, the Lansing district’s document states that parents have the right to expect that teachers “will endeavor to present facts without distortion, bias or personal prejudice.” It also says that parents can expect that a school will not contract “for teacher professional development with providers that promote racially essentialist doctrines or practices that have been held to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
It also states that parents have the right to object to any learning material or activity that they believe harms the family’s values, and that they can withdraw their children from the activity, class or program where the material is used. This comes after some parents across the region this past school year objected to certain books, mainly ones with LGBTQ or racial themes, being on school library shelves, arguing that they contain content too graphic for students.
Some Lansing school board members argued that the measure is unnecessary because parents already are granted such rights. District policy already explains that parents have a right to submit complaints about instructional materials and curriculum.
“I don’t agree with it. I don’t believe we need this. With my children ... I’ve always asked questions. I’ve always been involved. I’ve been in the classrooms. Every one of those items on the parental rights, we’re able to do. I can do every one,” said board member Michelle McQuillan, who voted against the measure.
Board member Carla Wiegers abstained from the vote, saying that the school board instead needs to focus on reviewing and addressing specific district policies.
Some board members who supported the parents bill of rights said that they are hearing concerns about how teachers address situations where students request to use preferred names or pronouns, and whether parents should be informed of that. It’s an issue that several Kansas City area school districts have recently dealt with. LGBTQ advocates have spoken out against informing parents when a student makes such a request without their family’s knowledge, arguing that it could lead to vulnerable students being “outed” to their families before they are ready.
Superintendent Dan Wessel said that his concern about the parents bill of rights document, “is that it’s very open-ended.”
“It still doesn’t specifically say that if a child comes to you and wants to be called by a different pronoun that you will inform the parent,” he said.
Wessel said its passage will likely lead to discussions about potential policy changes.
“If it is the will of this board, we have to continue to have those conversations. Because we as educators need to know exactly where we are.”
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(The Kansas City Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this story.)
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