The North Carolina State Board of Education has taken a bold stand by approving a policy that enshrines what they’re calling a “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
What does that mean?
It means that in the Tar Heel State if you’re a parent and you think your child’s school is playing a little fast and loose with the rules, you’ve got recourse.
Let’s break it down:
The new policy requires schools to notify parents if Johnny suddenly wants to be called Janie or if Sally decides she’s now Sal. Seems pretty reasonable, doesn’t it? To inform a parent about significant changes in their child’s life?
You’d think that would be common sense, but as we’ve seen, common sense is in short supply in the halls of academia these days.
But North Carolina is saying, “Not so fast.”
They’re putting the brakes on what they’ve deemed an overreach, making it clear that when it comes to kids in kindergarten through fourth grade, there will be no teaching about gender identity or sexuality.
And here’s where it gets even more interesting.
The state is mandating that if the parents aren’t happy with how the school handles things, the school boards have to set up a system to deal with it. Don’t like a textbook? You can say something. Don’t think the school is following the new rules? You’ve got 30 days to get a hearing with the state board.
And, by the way, the school has to pay for it!
Now, the education bureaucrats are up in arms about this. They’re calling it an “unfunded mandate.” They say it’s not fair that they have to pay $200 an hour for legal services if a parent brings up a concern.
But think about it — why shouldn’t they? If a school is doing something that a parent believes is so out of line that they need to bring it to a state hearing, why the parent have to dig into their wallet to ensure that their child is getting an education, not an indoctrination?
The president of the North Carolina Association of Educators is crying foul, saying that schools are being “unfairly saddled” with costs. But what about the parents? Aren’t they unfairly saddled when schools don’t respect their rights?
This isn’t about saddling anyone with unnecessary costs; it’s about accountability. It’s about ensuring that schools remember who they’re there to serve — the parents of students.
And yes, there will be a hearing officer, someone with actual legal expertise, to adjudicate these appeals. Not a panel of bureaucrats, not the school’s hand-picked judge — an independent contractor paid for by the local school district or charter school, someone who actually weighs the evidence.
The establishment, the educational establishment, is in a tizzy over this. They say it’s terrible, it’s burdensome. But let me ask: Since when is empowering parents a bad thing? Since when is transparency in education something to be afraid of? In North Carolina, at least, it looks like the days of operating in the shadows might end.
And all this goes into effect in January. It will be a very Happy New Year indeed for the parents of North Carolina if this policy does what it promises.
Keep your eyes on the Tar Heel State, folks. They might just be blazing a trail for the rest of the country.