A group of Republican lawmakers in Minnesota introduced a series of parental education rights bills Monday, joining a nationwide movement toward enhancing curriculum transparency and solidifying parental education rights.
The set of five bills introduced in the Minnesota state Senate would enhance parental notification requirements for public schools regarding student activities and welfare and classroom instruction, as well as require schools to inform parents of their rights to review curriculum and instructional materials.
The state lawmakers also introduced a bill that would establish education savings accounts, a popular school choice policy that allows parents to establish specialized government savings accounts to pay for school expenses, including tuition at private schools.
THIS LAW CAN HELP PARENTS EXPOSE CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN SCHOOLS, CONSERVATIVE GROUP SAYS
Curriculum transparency and parent education rights bills have become commonplace amid a national movement of parent activism fueled by concerns about coronavirus mandates and the inclusion of critical race theory and transgender ideology in school curriculum.
Some form of curriculum transparency legislation has been introduced in more than 20 states as the push to enact such measures has gained momentum.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is among the elected officials who have lobbied for such bills to be passed, saying in his state of the state address last month that “Florida law should provide parents with the right to review the curriculum used in their children’s schools.”
The effort has garnered substantial opposition from several liberal groups, who have decried the legislative push as an attempt to pit teachers against parents and prevent students from learning about controversial topics.
In a tweet last month, the ACLU called curriculum transparency initiatives “just thinly veiled attempts at chilling teachers and students from learning and talking about race and gender in schools.”
https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1484573261967114247?s=20&t=LRqI6UEzr6iQxGZxLEnLTg
The proposals in Minnesota drew the ire of Denise Specht, the president of Education Minnesota, a state teachers union, who said the introduced legislation was part of a national campaign by outside groups to create division.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“Unfortunately, certain politicians seem more interested in following the lead of the national big money groups’ plans to inflame division about what’s taught about race and gender than in presenting coherent policies to engage parents in their local schools,” Specht said.
Stephanie Rivera, the national press secretary for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said in a statement that “Minnesota Republicans know that parents matter and are committed to enacting policies that give parents a greater voice in their children’s educations.”
“If Senate Democrats really value parents over their teachers’ union benefactors, then they will support these commonsense policies to make curriculum more transparent and provide parents with more flexibility to choose the best schools and education for their kids,” Rivera said.
