(This is a press release.)
A pair of Republican legislators today unveiled their legislation to ensure that the parents of New Jersey public school children will be able to exercise their rights under the law to observe, comment, and direct their kids’ education and safeguard them against the increasingly radical agenda of leftist educators and administrators.
Senator Michael Testa (R-1) and Assemblyman Christian Barranco (R-26) introduced their “Parents’ Bill of Rights” bill to fight back against incidents of New Jersey public school districts trying to hide some of the most controversial and shocking curricula from parents and taxpayers.
“Parents are rightly upset about the stream of ultra-left indoctrination from some activist educators which seek to miseducate our students instead of preparing them for success in the real world,” said Sen. Testa. “As the spouse of a teacher, our focus should be on English, math, history, and science. Parents who pay the taxes to fund our schools need to have their rights respected and protected.”
“The nurture and upbringing of our children does not ‘take a village,’ it takes parents,” said Asm. Barranco. “School districts are not in the business of raising our children, they were put in place by the people, to serve those that vote for and fund their operations and the topics and content they teach our children will start and end with us.”
The legislation includes language to declare that “it is a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children.” The sponsors also maintain that parents, also as taxpayers, have a fundamental right to know the content of state standards of instruction as well as the curriculum established by the local elected school board in their districts.
Since April, revelations about proposed sex education curricula in certain public school districts have caused an uproar among parents. This topic only underscores the ongoing problems in public education where school administrators and board members have hidden topics from parents. The Biden Administration reportedly even sought to use federal anti-terrorism law to intimidate parents from asking questions at school board meetings.
“We believe that all information about public school education affecting students must be available to those paying for the education,” said Sen. Testa. “Parents have a right, and a responsibility, to learn what schools are teaching, and those schools cannot seek to delay or deny those parents their rights.”
The bill includes language which ensures “information about a minor child should not be withheld, either inadvertently or purposefully, from the child’s parent, including information relating to the minor child’s physical and mental health, well-being, and education, while the minor child is in the custody of the school district. “
Lastly, the bill maintains that the discussion of the above topics related to the education of minor children will be made available at meetings of the duly elected school boards established for that purpose and posted publicly for review.
The bill will now be referred to the relevant committees in each chamber and will await a hearing.
