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Whatever
Schools Teach, Parents Have No Rights
Since California Governor
Jerry Brown signed SB 48 into law on July 14, the curriculum for
California public schools must include “the role and contributions
of…lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” in California and
American history. Already, those on the left are preparing to defend the
law in courts, while those on the right are driving petitions to
overturn the law by a ballot initiative.
Why go to all that trouble?
Because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over
California and a handful of other states, has already made clear that
there can be no opt-outs of anything in the curriculum, even if
parents might find it offensive or contrary to their own
educational ideals for their children.
Some parents will like this form of education. Other parents will object
to it. At ParentalRights.Org our view is simply this: Parents, not
government, should be able to make these decisions.
As it is, whatever curriculum California ultimately decides to
keep, there will be public school parents who dislike it and who still
have no rights under the Ninth Circuit to even opt their children out.
In 2005, the Ninth Circuit declared in
Fields v. Palmdale that “[p]arents…have no
constitutional right…to prevent public schools from providing its
students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or
otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to
do so.”
“In sum,” they wrote, “we affirm that the Meyer-Pierce
[fundamental parental] right does not extend beyond the threshold of the
school door.”
And it’s not just California and neighboring states, either. In 2007,
the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts decided the same thing in
Parker v. Hurley: parents have no right to opt their
children out of a public school course. Nor are we aware of any decision
to the contrary in any Circuit or District in the country since 2000.
So get ready for more legislation and more petitions as parents go back
and forth over what all public school children must learn. When
parents lack the basic right to simply pull their child out of a single
class they dislike, there is no lesser recourse available than to change
the entire curriculum for all.
The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the Constitution can correct
this by reversing Palmdale and Parker and
re-establishing parental rights for fit parents regardless of their
child’s location. Until then, parents will just have to duke it out in
the legislature – because what their children learn in public school is
entirely a matter of state law, and not of parental discretion.
Sincerely,
Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research |
