Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland has now spent millions of taxpayer dollars learning a lesson it refused to accept voluntarily: Parents have rights, and courts will enforce them.
Last week, the Montgomery County Board of Education agreed to pay $1.5 million in damages and submit to court-enforced protections for parental rights following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor. The settlement requires the district to provide parents with advance notice when instructional materials addressing family life and human sexuality will be used and to allow families to opt their children out of that instruction. It also places the district under ongoing court supervision to ensure compliance. After years of resistance, the board is being required to do what it could have done from the beginning: respect the constitutional rights of the families it serves.
