[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3218 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3218
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide
for a Parents' Bill of Rights.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 17, 2021
Mr. Hawley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide
for a Parents' Bill of Rights.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Parents' Bill of Rights Act of
2021''.
SEC. 2. PARENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS.
(a) In General.--Subpart 2 of part F of title VIII of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 8549D. PARENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS.
``(a) In General.--No State, its agents, its subdivisions, or the
agents of its subdivisions shall deny to the parent or guardian of a
minor child any or all of the following rights:
``(1) The right to fully review, in physical or digital
optical character recognition format, and make copies of, the
curricula, books, and other educational materials used by the
school attended by their minor child or local educational
agency that serves such school. This right shall be understood
to--
``(A) include a right to affirmative disclosure of
class syllabi and reading lists to the parent or
guardian of a minor child by the school attended by
their minor child or local educational agency that
serves such school; and
``(B) prohibit a requirement that an individual
sign a nondisclosure agreement as a condition to
viewing or otherwise accessing curricular materials.
``(2) The right to access information on the teachers,
guest lecturers, and outside presenters who engage with
students at the school attended by their minor child. This
right shall be understood to prohibit schools from permitting
or requiring the attendance of minor children at school
assemblies, field trips, and other extracurricular activities,
absent affirmative consent from their parent or guardian.
``(3) The right to access information on all third-party
individuals and organizations that receive contracts or other
funding through the school attended by their minor child or the
local educational agency that serves such school.
``(4) The right to visit their minor child at school during
school hours.
``(5) The right to access all records generated by the
school attended by their minor child or the local educational
agency that serves such school that concerns their minor child.
``(6) The right to access information pertaining to the
collection and transmission of data regarding their minor child
by the school attended by their minor child or the local
educational agency that serves such school. This right shall be
understood to--
``(A) include a right to access information on any
outside entity, including an accreditor, marketing
consultancy, or third-party clearinghouse, to which
student data, whether anonymized or not, is
transferred;
``(B) prohibit the collection, by the school
attended by their minor child or the local educational
agency that serves such school, of any biometric data
or other sensitive personal information from the minor
child, absent affirmative consent by a parent or
guardian of the minor child; and
``(C) require that schools and local educational
agencies serving such schools make available processes
by which the parent or guardian of a minor child can
object in writing to, and deny consent to, the use of
videographic, photographic, or audio depictions of
their minor child by the school or local educational
agency serving such school.
``(7) The right to be heard at school board meetings or
other governance hearings pertaining to the school attended by
their minor child or the local educational agency that serves
such school. This right shall be understood to require that
school board meetings or other governance hearings pertaining
to curricula, safety, and other student issues be conducted
publicly and allow for public comments.
``(8) The right to be notified of situations affecting the
safety of their minor child at school. This right shall be
understood to require, but is not limited to requiring, that
schools notify parents or guardians in a timely manner of any
or all of the following incidents:
``(A) Physical assaults occurring in or around the
school.
``(B) Sexual assaults occurring in or around the
school.
``(C) Appearances of weapons in or around the
school.
``(D) Drug use or possession in or around the
school.
``(E) Police investigations in or around the
school.
``(F) Crimes, including misdemeanors, committed by
teachers or other school or local educational agency
employees, whether such offenses were committed on or
off the campus of a school.
``(b) Enforcement.--
``(1) Civil action.--Any person who is denied one or more
of the rights identified in subsection (a) may bring a civil
action in any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive
relief.
``(2) State enforcement.--In any case in which the attorney
general of a State has reason to believe that an interest of
the residents of that State has been or is threatened or
adversely affected by the engagement of any entity in an act or
practice denying one or more of the rights identified in
subsection (a), the State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil
action on behalf of the residents of the State in a district
court of the United States or a State court of appropriate
jurisdiction to obtain injunctive relief.
``(3) Withholding of funds for persistent violations.--
``(A) In general.--If a State is not in compliance,
as described in subparagraph (B), for a fiscal year the
Secretary shall withhold from the State 50 percent of
the total amount required to be apportioned to the
State or any subdivision of the State under this Act on
the first day of the following fiscal year.
``(B) Noncompliance.--A State shall be deemed
noncompliant for a fiscal year for purposes of this
paragraph if, within the 5-year period before the date
of the determination, there was not less than 3 final
judgments (that were not reversed on appeal) in
separate suits for injunctive relief filed pursuant to
paragraph (1) or (2), or both, in which the plaintiffs
prevailed against the State, its agents, its
subdivisions, or the agents of its subdivisions, and in
which the court granted injunctive relief.''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents in section 2 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by inserting
after the item relating to section 8549C the following:
``Sec. 8549D. Parents' Bill of Rights.''.
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