By Mark A Murphy PhD, JD
Over the last few years, national controversies have spread into North Carolina and many local K-12 school districts, as to whether “woke” ideologies, identity and sexual politics, and Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) are or should be taught in the Public Schools, and what rights or input parents should have on those issues.
Last year the NC State House and Senate, having attained a new Republican super-majority in both NC Houses, passed (over the veto of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper) a new “Parent’s Bill of Rights” that will make some major changes in NC public education, including in local school districts such as Watauga County. The new NC statute became legally effective Friday December 1, 2023.
This “Part I” column will briefly summarize some of the major provisions of the NC “Parent’s Bill of Rights”. A subsequent HCP “Part II” column will examine related local issues and controversies in the Watauga County Public Schools.
The details of ratified NC Senate Bill 49, which ran for 12 pages, are now codified in the NC Statutes as new Chapter 114A, and the text is available on the web at: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/Senate/PDF/S49v4.pdf.
Under the new NC State Law, parents have some new rights to
- direct the education and care of his or her child,
- direct the upbringing and moral or religious training of the child,
- enroll in a public or nonpublic school,
- access and review all their child’s educational and medical records,
- make health care decisions for the child,
- prohibit the creation, sharing, or storage of biometric or DNA scans or records, or student or family information relating to political, sexual, or religious matters of the child or the 1326family, without the parent’s prior written consent,
- to be promptly notified if an employee of the State suspects that a criminal offense has been committed against the child, or of any changes in the name or pronouns for the child used by school personnel or in school records,
- withhold consent for participation in reproductive health or safety education programs,
- seek medical or religious exemptions from immunization requirements, and
- access and review all educational materials used in their child’s education.
The new Law prohibits inclusion in the public school’s curriculum of any materials related to gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality, in the instruction of kindergarten through 4th grade students.
Under the new Law, local Boards of Education, and all public-school personnel are required to support and implement the provisions of the law, including the Parent’s Rights, and make a program and policies to assist parents and families to effectively participate in their child’s education. Any employee of the State who encourages, coerces, or attempts to encourage or coerce a child to withhold information from his or her parent may be subject to disciplinary action.
A parent can request in writing, from a school their child is enrolled in, any of the information they have the right to access under the Law. Such written requests should first be submitted to the Principal of the School, who has 10 days to respond. If the Principal fails to respond to the requests, the written requests can be sent to the Superintendent of the school district. If the Superintendent fails to respond within 10 business days, the parent can appeal the failure to the governing local body (i.e., Board of Education), and the governing body must put the Appeal on the Agenda of the next Board of Education meeting. If the Public School Unit and its Board of Education fail to resolve the parent’s concerns within 30 days, the parent can 1) notify the State Board of Education of the concern and request a parental concern hearing, or 2) bring a legal action against the public school unit for a declaratory judgement that the unit’s procedure or practice violates the provisions of the Parent’s Bill of Rights, and seek an injunction and payment of attorney’s fees.
This new NC “Parent’s Bill of Rights” will certainly impose more transparency on the teachers and administrators of the NC public schools, and give parents increased input and control over the details of how their children are educated, an improvement which many NC parents will find needed and approve of.
Nevertheless, the summarized descriptions in this article omit and/or paraphrase some of the details of the NC Parent’s Bill of Rights. If problems arise, the first course of action should probably be to try to consult and resolve any issues with the child’s teacher. But if those issues cannot be resolved with the teacher, and before a parent takes action under the Parent’s Bill of Rights, they should certainly consult the details of the Statute, and/or if necessary in some unusual cases consider consulting an attorney.
Similar laws have passed in multiple other states. But Iowa’s new similar law is being challenged in Court by a coalition of teachers from the Iowa State Education Association, and Penguin Random House, a major publisher of educational materials. The Iowa statute bars books discussing gender identity theories in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms and requires that parents be informed if a child expresses a desire to change their gender. The lawsuit alleges the provisions of the Iowa law are unconstitutionally vague.
A follow-up “Part II” column will raise concerns about some events in and policies of the Watauga Public Schools that illustrate some of the problems and concerns addressed by the new NC Parent’s Bill of Rights.
Mark A Murphy is a retired Industrial Chemist and Patent Attorney who lives just outside Blowing Rock.