What People Are *Actually* Saying About Extreme MAGA Republicans’ “Politics over Parents” Bill (H.R. 5)
WASHINGTON – Today, the House of Representatives will consider Republican legislation that would undermine public education under the guise of 'parental rights.' Experts and advocates for students, parents, and teachers agree that this proposal would only further politicize classrooms and jeapordize support for public education while doing nothing to increase real parental partnership with schools. Here’s what they are saying about Republicans’ so-called Parents Bill of Rights Act:
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona: “Unfortunately, some politicians and elected officials in recent years have been less focused on that, and are more interested in using education as a means to divide, not unite. That approach does nothing to help students across the country. None of the nearly 10,000 parents with whom my team and I have met since the president took office said they wanted more culture wars or partisan politics in schools. While each of these parents brought their own distinct needs and perspectives, they were united by a focus on their child's ability to learn now—and thrive in the future.”
National PTA: “National PTA and our network of millions of parents and educators across the country urge you to support adoption of the Bonamici Substitute Amendment and oppose the underlying legislation, H.R. 5, on the House Floor tomorrow. PTA opposes the underlying bill, H.R. 5, because it has the potential to cause significant harm to children & families. If passed as written, H.R. 5 could:
- Prevent mental health support for students in need;
- Limit access to learning-enhancing technology & educational materials;
- Lead to inappropriate and harmful book bans & curriculum censorship;
- Create confusion for school staff & burdensome opt-in requirements for families;
- Impair relationships between educators & parents; and
- Undermine efforts to create safe, welcoming, supportive, and inclusive learning environments for all students and families.”
National Parents Union: “This bill has nothing to do with parent rights and everything to do with the radical culture wars that serve as a distraction from what our students’ really need to recover from the pandemic. This bill would lead to more education bans, which takes books off classroom shelves and will therefore limit access to education for millions of kids across the country. From national polling we know that the top priorities identified by the vast majority of families are the safety of their children while at school and the urgent need for mental health supports. This bill fails to address either issue and therefore is clearly not intended for the millions of families who have been demanding leadership from federal, state and local lawmakers.”
MomsRising Executive Director and CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner: “The badly misnamed ‘Parents Bill of Rights’ the House GOP plans to vote on this week is all wrong for America’s moms, kids, families, and educators. It is a recipe for censorship, bullying and book bans, and for division based on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, masquerading as a bill of rights. If it were to become law, the Parents Bill of Rights would create more division by pitting educators against parents. It would do enormous damage to our kids, schools and communities.
“America’s moms want schools to be safe and inclusive and to value diversity; for parents to be respectful; and for educators to be able to be honest about their identities and allowed to teach our country’s truths, good and bad, and the values that got us to where we are today.”
American Library Association Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Relations and Interim Associate Executive Director Alan S. Inouye: “We believe that parents should be partners in their children’s education. However, H.R. 5’s school library provisions do nothing to advance that goal. Instead, they would create unnecessary and unfunded federal mandates on local school libraries that likely would result in more government censorship of reading choices.
“Congress should support freedom for parents and students to choose what they want to read. Inspired by the wisdom of our country’s Founders, the First Amendment must be our guide star. If anyone is to tell a child that they can’t read a book, it should be the child’s parent, not a politician. Congress should support students by strengthening school libraries and protecting the freedom to read – not imposing more bureaucratic burdens and invitations to censorship.
“We are confident that parents want more books, not fewer, in their children’s school libraries.”
Council of Great City Schools Executive Director Raymond Hart: “Urban schools have long supported and encouraged family involvement in our students’ education and view parental engagement as an invaluable tool to further school improvement. Yet H.R. 5 includes excessive and redundant federal requirements that are costly, time-consuming, and unnecessary to improve student performance. The bill also contains problematic requirements, such as provisions that impede school districts’ ability to operate effective instructional programs and ones that may deter the identification of students that need mental health support. The Council does not support H.R. 5 and urges House leaders to develop legislation that focuses on the instructional improvements and supports that provide our students with the best opportunity for success in school and life.”
National Education Association President Becky Pringle: “Parents and voters agree that elected leaders should be focused on getting students the individualized support they need, keeping guns out of schools, and addressing educator shortages. But sadly, McCarthy would rather empower politicians who want to ban books and drive passionate educators out of the profession, instead of doing what is right for our students and public schools. Students, parents, and educators deserve better.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten: “We are glad Republicans are thinking about parents and want to address the issues keeping them up at night, but H.R. 5 fails to deliver on what parents want and kids need to succeed. Our students and their families face new and emerging challenges that the House should be focusing on today, working to advance solutions that protect our nation’s students, value our parents and support our educators. Unfortunately, H.R. 5 does not meet that standard, and, at a minimum, it must be amended to include the Bonamici substitute.”
Education Trust President and CEO Denise Forte: “The parent-teacher bond is a partnership forged since the first schoolhouse opened its doors. Parents overwhelmingly love their child’s teachers, and teachers know that truly lifting the voices of parents can empower young people — particularly students of color and students from low-income backgrounds — to see themselves and their community reflected in the curriculum.
“This relationship should be celebrated and strengthened through collaboration and goodwill, not by one-sided and burdensome legislation. However, it is clear the slew of state and federal parental rights bills being proposed across the country — including a national “Parents Bill of Rights” proposal adopted by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in early March — does little to promote better alliances between parents and teachers. Instead, these bills use divisive, racially motivated tactics to pit parents against teachers in a not-so-subtle effort to delegitimatize and defund public schools, and in the process, win elections.”
AASA, The School Superintendents Association Director of Advocacy Sasha Pudelski: “As a national organization representing the CEOs of school systems, our view has always been that local control in K-12 education is not only what is best, but what is most appropriate. It is for this reason that we must oppose H.R.5. As champions of local control, AASA has long opposed top-down, prescriptive federal education policies that dictate how districts utilize limited federal funding, pressure districts to adopt specific standards or curriculum or create national teacher or educator standards and requirements.”
PFLAG National Executive Director Brian K. Bond: “For 50 years, PFLAG families have fought to ensure that our public schools are a place where every LGBTQ+ student and all students can learn, do their best, and thrive, which is why PFLAG National opposes the so-called ‘Parents Bill of Rights Act.’ This harmful bill aims to erode public education in our nation, silence and make our youth unsafe in schools, and splinter the important partnership between parents and teachers. Our founder, Jeanne Manford, was a public school teacher, and she would not have remained silent about this dangerous bill; we won't, either.”
Campaign for Our Shared Future Executive Director Heather Harding: “This bill is not about helping parents and teachers work together more effectively – it’s about scaring parents into thinking that schools don't have the best interests of children at heart. Instead of scoring political points and wasting tax dollars on more bureaucracy, we should be talking about the support that families actually need. We need to focus on resources that help our children. This is a solution looking for a problem playing out through political theater by radical politicians.”
First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley: “Unfortunately, we believe there is language in H.R. 5 that would prove to be unnecessarily detrimental to the education, health, privacy, and well- being of children. We urge you to go back to the drawing board and work with educational and child and family organizations to improve and rebalance the focus of this legislation, and to remember that children have fundamental rights.
“Rather than a self-centered agenda focused upon themselves, what the vast majority of parents really want is what is best for their children. They do not accept that, as a nation, the U.S. ranks 36th out of 38 wealthy nations on measures of child well-being. They demand that we do better by children.”
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: “H.R. 5 seeks to create detrimental harm to our most marginalized children, erase the complicated and difficult history of our nation, and damage parent and teacher relationships. Instead of promoting the values and priorities that the overwhelming majority of parents from all backgrounds and neighborhoods share, the bill would undermine important public health and child well-being data by effectively eliminating anonymous surveys of students; would harm those most vulnerable LGBTQ+ youth who are unable to come out to even their own parents by forcibly outing them; would embolden a small group of activists who are using book bans to selectively stamp out the perspectives of Black people, LGBTQ+ people, and other historically marginalized groups; and would bog schools down with reporting and commenting requirements that bear no relationship to proven parent and family engagement practices.”
Third Way Senior Vice President for Social Policy, Education & Politics Lanae Erickson: “This week, the House majority will bring H.R. 5 to the floor under the guise of increasing parental engagement in schools—but its substance would do nothing to advance that goal. Instead, this bill would censor parents, undermine student mental health, ban books from school libraries, redirect resources and personnel away from meeting families’ real needs, and ultimately function as a gag order on teaching and learning across the country.”
Cato Institute: “…it suffers from a fundamental flaw: It is not constitutional. Look at the specific, enumerated powers given to the feds, and you won’t see anything about education, much less authorizing library transparency and parent?teacher conference mandates. The other major problem with PBORA is even if constitutional, it would not give parents real power. More information is fine, but districts have been publishing such things as budget data for decades.”
200+ Additional Organizations Opposing H.R. 5
American Atheists
American Civil Liberties Union
American Humanist Association
American School Counselor Association
Apiary for Practical Support
Arab American Institute (AAI)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
Athlete Ally
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Campus Pride
Care in Action
Catholics for Choice
Center for American Progress
Center for Applied Transgender Studies
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR)
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Collective Power for Reproductive Justice
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
EducateUS: SIECUS In Action
Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC)
Education Reform Now
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities
End Rape On Campus
Equal Rights Advocates
Equality Federation
Equity Forward
Evaluation, Data Integration, and Technical Assistance (EDIT) Program
Family Equality
Feminist Campus
Fenway Institute
FORGE, Inc.
Girls Inc.
GLAAD
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD)
GLSEN
Grandmothers for Reproductive Rights
Hindu American Foundation
Hispanic Federation
Houston Area Urban League
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights First
If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice
Impact Fund
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda
Indivisible
interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth
Interfaith Alliance
Japanese American Citizens League
Juvenile Law Center
KIPP Public Schools
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
Lambda Legal
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Lawyers for Good Government
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Matthew Shepard Foundation
Movement Advancement Project
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Association of School Psychologists
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Parent Leadership, Advocacy, and Community Empowerment (National PLACE)
National Center for Transgender Equality
Media Coalition
National LGBT Cancer Network
National Organization for Women
National Urban League
National Women's Law Center
New American Leaders Action Fund
New Generation Equity
Oregonizers
People For the American Way
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Plume Health
Public Advocacy for Kids (PAK)
Public Citizen
Public Justice
Red Wine & Blue
Reproductive Rights Coalition
School Board Partners
Sexual Violence Prevention Association (SVPA)
SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
SPAN Parent Advocacy Network
SPLC Action Fund
Stand for Children
Tahirih Justice Center
The Advocates for Human Rights
The Arc of the United States
The Personal Stories Project
The Sikh Coalition
The Workers Circle
TransAthlete
True Colors United
Trust Women
UnidosUS
Unitarian Universalist Association
United State of Women (USOW)
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
VoteProChoice
Voto Latino
Wayfinder Foundation
We Testify
Whole Woman's Health
Whole Woman's Health Alliance
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
YWCA USA
A Woman's Choice of Charlotte
A Woman's Choice of Greensboro
A Woman's Choice of Jacksonville
A Woman's Choice of Raleigh
Acadiana Queer Collective
Aces NYC
Action Together New Jersey
African American Office of Gay Concerns
AIDS Foundation Chicago
Alliance for Quality Education
Arkansas Black Gay Men's Forum
Avow Texas
Bans Off Miami
Black Californians United for Early Care and Education
Carolina for All
Central Florida Jobs with Justice
Chicago Abortion Fund
Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
Cobalt
Democrats for Education Reform DC (DFER DC)
Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts
Democrats for Education Reform New York
Detroit Disability Power
DFER Colorado
Disability Law Center
Donald Patton
Dutchess County Progressive Action Alliance
Education Reform Now
Education Reform Now CT
Education Reform Now Texas
Equality California
GLSEN New Mexico
Greater Milwaukee Urban League
Greater Orlando National Organization for Women
Illinois Families for Public Schools
Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization
Indivisible DuPage
Indivisible Georgia Coalition
Indivisible Miami
Jane's Due Process
JASMYN, Inc.
Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship
Latino Memphis
Learning Rights Law Center
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship
Louisiana Coalition for Reproductive Freedom
Louisiana Progress
Louisiana Trans Advocates
Maine Parent Federation
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Mazzoni Center
Memphis Urban League
Michigan Alliance for Special Education
Michigan Education Justice Coalition
Missouri Health Care for All
NASD
National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis
NJ Community Schools Coalition
North Carolina Justice Center
OutFront Minnesota
OutNebraska
Parent Education Organizing Council
Paterson Alliance
Paterson Education Foundation
PAVE (Parents Amplifying Voices in Education)
Pride Action Tank
Pro Choice Missouri
Pro-Choice North Carolina
Progress Florida
Queer Northshore
Rad Family, a project of North Jersey Pride
Reproductive Freedom Acadiana
Save Our Schools NJ
SHERo Mississippi
Silver State Equality-Nevada
Solid Foundation Youth Outreach
Southern Echo Inc.
St. Tammany Library Alliance
The Ezekiel Project
The Parents' Place of MD
The Urban League of Philadelphia
The Womxn Project
Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh
Urban League of Middle Tennessee
Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations
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