Sen Wise: SB 150, my ‘parents rights’ bill, is about communication, not division. | Opinion
We live in very strange times. Political polarization is leaking into the classroom, permeating our schools, and seemingly becoming a priority over academics. School districts have presumably seized the role of “parent” to students under their tutelage, obstructing parental rights and leaving parents little recourse when disagreements arise.
Increasingly, parents feel left in the dark or evaded on matters concerning curriculum, speech and even their child’s health. We have long trusted the school system we hand our children to each morning, but that system has compromised our trust.
I have filed Senate Bill 150 (SB 150) giving schools both the parameters and the process by which to support and advocate for the students in their care. But, just as importantly, this bill empowers parental engagement and strengthens the rights of parents over their children’s wellbeing, especially within their education and life-altering health decisions.
As the former chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Education, I heard from many parents, teachers, and school board members around Kentucky. Parents and teachers want to remove unnecessary distractions from the classroom and ensure our schools remain a positive learning environment for all students. Parents are entitled to information if their child has visited the school counselor, is experiencing issues such as pregnancy or thoughts of suicide, or even wrestling with gender dysphoria. Parents deserve and want to know what schools teach about human sexuality. Requiring information on these topics to be shared with parents is purely common sense.
When we focus on issues that don’t contribute to or align with academic excellence in schools, we do a great disservice to our students and future workforce. Quality education and teaching valuable life skills are directly linked to the health of our state’s economy. Kentucky can’t compete with Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio and other states when we prioritize pronoun identification and politically driven ideology over academic rigor. A recent Harris Poll conducted by Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies states that Americans believe using non-conforming gender pronouns in classrooms is confusing to students.
SB 150 addresses this issue head-on. It also tackles a parent’s right to information regarding sexual education curricula and the right to notification on medical treatment or advice being administered at school. Most importantly, it cements parents’, students’ and educators’ right to free speech in the classroom.
SB 150 is a communications bill. It lays out what must be communicated between a school and the families that it serves. The most important issue it addresses is the requirement that a school district MUST notify parents when their child, a minor, requests health and mental health services at school. Parents also have the right to be informed when their son or daughter is referred for external services the school does not provide. This bill reiterates parents’ right to consent or decline these services.
One critical exception to note is if there is known or suspected abuse within the home. In that case, school administrators would have discretion whether to share and report a student’s health information. SB150 also ensures that parents may, within a two-week timeframe, pre-inspect sexual education curriculum and either consent to or request an alternate assignment for their child.
Nothing in this bill prohibits classroom discussions within the context of the approved curriculum, or a student’s questions. Lastly, SB 150 codifies the free speech rights of educators and students, freeing them from district or Kentucky Department of Education mandates to use non-conforming pronouns at the request of other students. My bill will empower parents, students, and educators to ensure a positive learning environment.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” is a verse I often think of that hits at the heart of this parental rights issue. A child’s parents are the most important decision-makers and are responsible for ensuring a healthy, happy and prosperous future for their child. It’s time to return the focus in our classrooms to reading, writing, science, arithmetic, and teaching America’s principles through social studies. Let’s remove unnecessary distractions from the classroom, empower parents to be engaged, and restore a healthy partnership between parents and teachers in decisions concerning children’s education.
Senator Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, represents the 16th Senate District, including Adair, Allen, Metcalfe, Monroe, and Taylor Counties and eastern Warren County and is running for office to become Kelly Craft’s lieutenant governor.