GOP Senators Pass Parental Bill of Rights
And reject free school meals. Bill passed earlier by Senate next goes to governor.
School classroom. (Pixabay License).
In addition to passing new legislative maps on Tuesday, the Wisconsin Senate took action on several bills including passing a bill that would adopt a “parental bill of rights.”
Republican lawmakers concurred in AB 510, which would establish a “parental bill of rights,” in a 22-10 vote.
Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) objected to the bill and brought an amendment to it that would have thrown out the language and instead provided state aid to reimburse public and private schools that provide free school meals to all students.
“The price tag on this, I should say, is a small 120 million dollars to make sure that every child has a breakfast and if you’re interested in educational outcomes and actually want students to succeed, making sure they have a full belly is important,” Larson said. The amendment was rejected by Republicans.
Larson then took issue with the bill itself, saying that it fed into the “worst imaginations” about what students are being taught and exposed to in schools.
The bill outlines 16 specific rights that parents would be entitled to, including the right to determine the religion of a child; to determine the names and pronouns used for the child while at school; to determine the type of school or educational setting the child attends; the right to review instructional materials; the right to “timely notice” when a “controversial subject” will be taught or discussed in the child’s classroom and the right to opt out of a class or instructional materials at the child’s school for reasons based on either religion or personal conviction.
“While most of the ‘rights’ listed in the bill are already law, others are designed specifically to single out LGBTQ+ students and suppress the teaching of any subject a parent deems to be ‘controversial,’ which depending on the parent could include science, health, and nearly all of human history,” Larson said in a statement.
During floor debate, Larson pointed out that the law wouldn’t apply to private choice schools and that the law would create a pathway for parents that claim these rights have been violated to sue school districts.
“All it would take is one outraged parent and the threat of civil litigation to strip public curriculum of any teaching that may present any semblance of discomfort,” Larson said.
Bill co-author Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) said the bill includes “common sense” rights.
“I’ve always said you shouldn’t have to legislate common sense, but apparently we have to here,” Wanggaard said in a statement after the vote. “Of course parents should have the right to determine the name and religion of their child, and see their medical records. Unfortunately, some school districts and health care providers think differently, making this bill necessary.”
The bill passed the Assembly in January, so it will now go to Gov. Tony Evers, who vetoed a similar bill in the last legislative session.
A longer version of this story, Senators pass parental bill of rights and UW bills, reject free school meals was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.
The crusade for a “Parents Bill of Rights” continues to drive experienced educators to retire or resign. The wordings of the law are vague and any charges against teachers would not pass a constitutional test in court. If this bill became law, , the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty would be out trolling for cases to be brought against teachers by politically motivated parents. The threat of a lawsuit would also drive many teachers to water down controversial subjects and discourage any meaningful discussion in the classroom.
a lot of nonsense
There is so much that is wrong with this bill, increasing the teacher shortage is just top of the list. Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) claims that there is much that is common sense in the law. There is a reason for that; those elements are already part of Wisconsin law. The real dangers this law promises are the discrimination of individual students, which is unconstitutional, and throwing public school teachers under the bus so RRRs (radical reactionary republicans) can make political hay.
The only winners coming out of this legislation are (1) ignorance; and (2) rightwing Christian fascists. Evers is right to veto it.
Why does GOP love to use “Bill of Rights” on legislation that STRIP rights?
Delusional. Thankfully Evers has reading comprehension and can veto this pos.