A bill to allow parents to sue Arizona teachers for “usurping the fundamental right” of a parent in raising their children won approval from state Senate Republicans on Monday and is one vote away from Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk.
Supporters of the bill said it was necessary to subject teachers to lawsuits in order to bring transparency to schools, which they said have been asking “inappropriate questions” of students. The main impetus for the legislation were student surveys sent out by schools — often aimed at identifying students struggling with mental health during the pandemic — that made headlines in a number of states and locally.
House Bill 2161 by Rep. Steve Kaiser, R-Phoenix, began its legislative life as a more controversial bill that would have forced teachers to tell parents everything a student tells them — including outing them if a student confides in a teacher that they are LGBTQ.
The bill was eventually amended to remove that language. Kaiser insisted that the bill was never meant as “an attack” on the LGBTQ community, even though it specifically said teachers would have to disclose information about a student’s “purported gender identity” or a request to transition to a gender other than the “student’s biological sex.” It was also drafted by two historically anti-LGBTQ groups.
The bill in its current form prohibits a school, political subdivision or government from “usurping the fundamental right” of a parent in raising their children, allows a parent to bring a civil suit against any government entity or official that violates the Parents’ Bill of Rights in Arizona law, gives parents the rights to all written or electronic records from a school about their child — including a students counseling records — and requires schools to notify parents before a survey is conducted of students, among other changes.
“I am a hard ‘no’ on this bill,” Sen. Christine Marsh, a Phoenix Democrat and the 2016 Arizona Teacher of the Year, said when explaining her vote on the floor Monday afternoon. She added that the vague wording of “usurping the fundamental right” in the bill will likely lead to many parents filing lawsuits.
“Anything could potentially qualify for it so we might have a whole bunch of teachers going to court for this,” she said.
Those concerns were also echoed by her Democratic colleagues during committee hearings on the bill who feared that if passed, the bill could see librarians getting in trouble for recommending books that conflict with a parent’s worldview.
Kaiser, the bill’s sponsor, said in committee that the aim is to have parents involved with the child in that process.
The bill passed 16-12. Because it was amended in the Senate, it returns to the House of Representatives for a final vote, after which it would go to Ducey for final action.
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2022.
So mindboggling idiotic. Not only blatantly unconstitutionally vague, but horrible public policy. How to guarantee a massive teacher shortage. Even the rationales are nonsense. Anytime a state legislature mandates vague micromanaging of local school issues, its a disaster. Shame on the Repub majority for this mess. Sonny Borrelli wouldn’t last five minutes in a seventh grade English class.
EDUCATION – NOT PROPAGANDA OR GROOMING
No teacher who takes standard academic subjects & instructs on accepted facts has anything to fear. It shouldn’t be too hard to avoid indoctrination & keep away from socially or culturally controversial topics.
Teachers are supposed to teach basics, like how to read, do math, spell, vocabulary, how to construct sentences, etc; the basics. They’re also supposed to teach science, basics like gravity, why heating water makes it boil, why it’s a bad idea to go really fast straight into a brick wall. Then there’s history, of our country, the world, & how histories are intertwined.
IF teachers are constrained from teaching the basics, the truths of language, math, science, & history, even if a child’s parent(s) themselves don’t know/acknowledge the basics, the facts, or the science, means that those children may forever remain as uneducated &/or ignorant as their parents.
The sole goal of education is to open children’s eyes to the world around them, give a baseline of where we come from, & the possibilities for the future.
MMP, Let’s say that I would be furious if any teacher ever said anything nice or complimentary of Ronald Reagan because I considered him the worst president in US history and the enemy of democracy. Should I be allowed to punish or even have fired any teacher who goes against me? If I’m a Klan member, should I be allowed to have removed any teacher who states that black or minority people are also human beings? Or teaches climate change, the New Deal, or other cases of US history? Or a math book that has a student or teacher with a non-white Christian name? Could you give us the name of a book that is in the TUSD curriculum that contains said ‘indoctrination’? It shouldn’t be too hard.
Who would want to teach at this point. But yeah thats the idea. The GOP wants brainwashed morons to control.