Parents Bill of Rights Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 5, which should be called the politics over parents act.
After spending 15 years as a very involved public school parent, I can say without hesitation that I strongly support parental involvement in education. You won't meet a Member on this side of the aisle that disagrees with that. The bill before us today misses the mark.
This could have been an opportunity to address the real challenges facing education, to make changes that would involve parents in a constructive way, and also make a positive difference in education. I am disappointed that we aren't doing that.
House Democrats have shown time and time again that we are committed to providing all parents--including those who traditionally face barriers to engagement--with meaningful involvement in their kids' schools. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Democratic Party is the party of parental rights and family values.
We have put forward a substantive plan that will actually increase the frequency, quality, and accessibility of parental involvement and engagement in schools; a substantive plan that invests in evidence- based models and support systems that have been shown to increase family engagement and improve student achievement; a substantive plan that encourages parents to be partners, not adversaries, in their children's education; a substantive plan that roots out discrimination based on race, disability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or gender identity in our public schools; a substantive plan that, unlike H.R. 5, doesn't carry dangerous, authoritarian undertones encouraging book bans, discouraging the teaching of scientifically and historically accurate curricula, and leading to the micromanagement of the work of educators.
We welcome a conversation about how to empower parents, and urge our friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle to abandon their politically motivated attacks on schoolteachers and students. We should instead be working together on these issues in a bipartisan manner. Our Nation's students and families deserve that.
We need more parents, including those from diverse backgrounds, to feel included, supported, engaged, and welcomed at their kids' school. This bill does not even begin to do that.
I am leading more than 45 of our colleagues on a Bill of Rights for Students and Parents, a resolution that is supported by more than 250 education, civil rights, and parents' groups, including the National PTA.
I have heard colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that history will judge us on how we respond to the needs of students and families at this moment, and I agree with them.
Will we succumb to an extremist, discriminatory, narrow-minded, anti- public-education agenda, or will we work together to advance commonsense, meaningful policies that will support parents, students, and educators?
Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to take the approach that still sees public education as the great equalizer for all students regardless of who they are or where they are from, essential to our communities, the economy, and our democratic Republic.
Please join me in rejecting this bill.
Mr. Chair, I include in the Record a statement from the National PTA in opposition to H.R. 5.
Dear Representative Bobby Scott: 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 and families. If passed as written, H.R. 5 could:
Prevent mental health support for students in need;
Limit access to learning-enhancing technology and educational materials;
Lead to inappropriate and harmful book bans and curriculum censorship;
Create confusion for school staff and burdensome opt-in requirements for families;
Impair relationships between educators and parents; and
Undermine efforts to create safe, welcoming, supportive, and inclusive learning environments for all students and families.
PTA supports Representative Bonamici's Substitute Amendment to H.R. 5 as the ONLY PATH forward to ensuring supports and services are in place for true family-school partnerships. We stand behind our National Standards for Family-School Partnerships that have been in place for over 20 years. The Substitute Amendment provides the opportunity for meaningful and inclusive family engagement in K-12 education and if adopted would replace the current H.R. 5 and enable our Nation's public schools to:
Create a parent coordinator position in public schools;
Reinforce existing parents' rights under federal law;
Prohibit the federal government from curriculum censorship and banning books; and
Invest in full-service community schools and Statewide Family Engagement Centers Program (the new authorization level of $60 million would allow all states to participate).
As the Nation's oldest and largest child advocacy association, we know what meaningful family engagement looks like and what parents want from their policymakers. We ask you to join us in supporting the Bonamici Substitute Amendment and opposing the underlying bill, H.R. 5 on the House Floor. We thank you for consideration of this request and if you have any questions, please reach out to our Director of Government Affairs, Kate Clabaugh.
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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, today, the National Parents Union released a poll that supports an alternative version of H.R. 5 and does not support H.R. 5 in the least.
In fact, the majority of people believe that the bill of rights should guarantee that students should have access to a high-quality, well-rounded education with resources to support their individual needs. They overwhelmingly agree that parents' own personal beliefs should not prevent other students from accessing certain curricula and materials.
The majority encourage the teaching of topics like women's history, Black history, Native American history, and Latino, Latina, and Hispanic history.
The majority of parents want Congress to focus on issues like anti- bullying measures in schools and providing students with access to career and technical education and academic tutoring.
They rank requiring public schools to provide parents with a list of books and reading materials in the library as the least important priority for Congress compared to other issues.
They say that public schools should teach about and discuss concepts like kindness, empathy, cooperation, and collaboration.
Ninety percent say that students should have access to high-quality, well-rounded education. Ninety percent say that students should be protected from any form of discrimination against them at school. Eighty-nine percent say that students should be taught using educational materials that are historically accurate. Eighty percent say students should be taught using educational materials that reflect the diversity of the United States. Eighty-three percent say students should be taught about how government works so they can be prepared to participate in democracy.
My colleagues, H.R. 5 misses the mark. Please, vote it down. I will be offering a substitute amendment. We have something we can stand for that will really, truly address the needs of students and parents.
Madam Chair, I include in the Record a letter from the Council of the Great City Schools in opposition to H.R. 5. Council of the Great City Schools
Dear Representative: The Council of the Great City Schools, the coalition of the nation's largest central city school districts, writes to offer our perspective on H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights Act pending before the Committee. 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.
Urban school districts provide an endless number of engagement opportunities and have longstanding local policies and state laws to foster this connection. Parental involvement on school-based committees is routine in urban schools, with positions designated specifically for parents and family members to review library materials and textbooks, budget expenditures, school safety procedures, and school improvement plans to increase student learning. The inclusion of federal requirements in H.R. 5 that, for example, mandate a specific number of in-person teacher meetings per year, the annual disclosure of library and reading materials at each school, and detailed budget publications needlessly duplicate commonplace practices in districts that customarily have multiple parent-teacher meetings, online card catalogs, and regular public meetings for developing annual district-level and school-level budgets that are posted on the districts' websites.
We also do not support provisions that hinder districts' ability to provide the instruction and support that our students need to succeed. Urban school districts have worked hard to ensure that the benefits of content-rich resources are available to our children and have invested in online tools to promote an ``anywhere/anytime'' approach to learning. Encouraging parental objections to the use of such technology will likely prove extremely disruptive for all students and creates avoidable strictures for school and district staff. Similarly, any restrictions on access to school psychologists and counselors to support mental health will unsettle school districts that are prioritizing the well-being of those students that need it most.
Urban school districts are committed to their students, parents, and families and have long worked to keep them informed, inspired, and ready to partner with their local schools. Authentic parent engagement is essential to increasing student achievement and readiness for college, career, and life. The Council urges a NO vote on H.R. 5 and encourages Congress to develop legislation that will help our districts and school communities reach these goals. Sincerely, Raymond Hart, Executive Director.
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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I rise today to urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support my amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 5.
My amendment in the nature of a substitute is a commonsense piece of legislation that makes tangible investments in parental involvement. It enhances the ability of school districts to involve all families, not just the privileged few.
By adopting this amendment in the nature of a substitute, we will invest in evidence-based, full-service community schools, public schools that coordinate closely with community organizations to improve the integration, accessibility, and effectiveness of services for students and families; provide families with access to critical wraparound services; and, importantly, improve student achievement.
We will be able to hire dedicated parent coordinators in public schools to work directly with parents, connecting them with the resources and support they need to help their children succeed and ultimately improve parental involvement and student success.
We will direct more investments toward the Department of Education Statewide Family Engagement Centers program so States can share best practices on parental engagement, and school districts can receive the support and training they need to increase parental participation and involvement.
Madam Chair, I was a very involved parent, and I talked to parents who wanted to come to school and wanted to participate, but they were working extra shifts, didn't speak English, or didn't have transportation. Let's break down those barriers.
Importantly, we will prohibit the banning of books and curricula in our public schools and restore the ability of students to receive a historically accurate, well-rounded education.
Madam Chair, I worked on this substitute with the input of stakeholders who are in our public schools each and every day, who are parents themselves, and who represent diverse communities in red and blue States across our Nation. I am proud to introduce this amendment in the nature of a substitute for consideration on the House floor because, unlike the bill it seeks to amend, it reflects the true diversity of our Nation and embodies the approach we should be taking to make lasting improvements to public education, an inclusive, collaborative, and evidence-based approach.
On behalf of all students and parents, I encourage all of my colleagues to vote for this amendment and soundly reject H.R. 5, a bill that should be named the politics over parents act.
Madam Chair, I thank the staff of the Education and the Workforce Committee for all of their help with this amendment in the nature of a substitute. I also thank my own staff in my office, Sujith Cherukumilli and Dr. Alfonso Garcia, both of whom have spent time as classroom teachers. I acknowledge the work of the staff on this important work, as well.
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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, in response, again, I reiterate that every single Democrat on our side of the aisle absolutely supports parental involvement and parental engagement. We talked about that in the debate on the bill.
About costs, it is my understanding that the so-called Parents Bill of Rights Act doesn't have any additional funding with all the extra obligations that are put on our schools, districts, and teachers.
There is no effort to silence parents. We want parents to be involved, peacefully, and peacefully state their concerns.
I know that Ranking Member Scott talked about how Democrats tried to put an amendment in to put some reasonableness in there. If you have 200 parents show up at a school board meeting, and each one of them wants to speak for 2 hours, that is not reasonable.
We absolutely support parental involvement. We want to do that. We want to provide that evidence-based engagement and, again, make the relationship collaborative, not adversarial.
That is why I encourage colleagues to support this collaborative, evidence-based approach to involve all parents in education.
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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
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