In recent years across the country there have been countless examples of public school teachers, administrators, school boards, and state and federal officials who often ignore or are outright hostile toward parents who attempt to exercise their rights to influence, participate in, and oversee the education of their children.
Local matters of education are subject to detailed and intrusive centralized control. This results in astonishing waste, sometimes offensive and outrageous instruction and programming, medical and mental health care and advice given without parental notice or permission, and the erosion of traditional concepts of public education, liberty, and parental rights.
A bill currently making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly will guarantee that parents and legal guardians do not check their rights at the schoolhouse door and have significant input in school curricula and programs.
SB 2749, the "Families' Rights and Responsibilities Act" directs that the right of parents to oversee the education and physical and mental health of their children is exclusive. The legislation was introduced by Tennessee state senator Ferrell Haile.
"This bill codifies the fundamental rights of parents to direct and control their children's upbringing," said Convention of States Action (COSA) Senior Vice President for Legislative Affairs Rita Peters.
"In today's big-government culture," Peters added, "all too often the state wants to step in and take over that role, making significant decisions that will affect children's lives without parents' knowledge or consent. This bill is a way for the Tennessee legislature to draw a clear line in the sand."
One of the most fundamental principles of a self-governing people is consent, a principle that is emphasized in SB 2749.
The bill requires, to cite a few examples, that parents must consent to any medical decisions that are made on behalf of a student, to biometric scans and any other biological data gathering, and to the production and sharing of videos or voice recordings of students that are produced by schools.
The bill also permits parents to excuse their children from attendance at school for religious reasons, to examine the educational and medical records of their children that are maintained by a school, and to actively participate in parent-teacher groups and other school-sanctioned organizations.
SB 2749 gives authority to parents to bring suit in civil court should violations of the bill occur.
In short, SB 2749 establishes and affirms the proper relationship between schools, teachers and administrators, parents, and children by reserving to parents all parental rights without interference from government entities.
Parental involvement and participation in the education and care of their children is not limited to dropping them off or putting them on a school bus each day or blindly and uncritically accepting what their children are being taught or the decisions and judgments of teachers and administrators.
SB 2749 establishes these fundamental principles of parental rights and self-government in Tennessee law. As Peters said, "Raising children is the province of parents–not the state."
The Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing regarding SB 2749 on February 27, 2024.
