[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3947 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3947

 To amend the General Education Provisions Act to allow parents access 
                        to certain information.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 1996

  Mr. Tiahrt (for himself, Mr. Souder, Mr. Largent, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. 
Cooley of Oregon, Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Graham, Mr. Lewis of 
  Kentucky, Mr. Talent, Mr. Stockman, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Bartlett of 
Maryland, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Barr of Georgia, Mr. Dornan, and Mr. Calvert) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                 Economic and Educational Opportunities

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the General Education Provisions Act to allow parents access 
                        to certain information.

    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 ``Parental Freedom of Information 
Act''.

SEC. 2. INFORMATION ACCESS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Information.--Section 444(a)(1)(A) of the General 
        Education Provisions Act is amended--
                     (A) by inserting before the period of the first 
                sentence the following: ``, including, for an 
                elementary and secondary school student only, any 
                instructional materials, medical records (except that 
                access to medical records shall be denied to a parent 
                who is charged with or convicted of a crime against a 
                minor until such parent is acquitted or such charge is 
                dropped), and standardized achievement tests 
                administered to their children.'';
                    (B) by striking ``forty-five'' in the last sentence 
                and inserting ``30''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 444(a)(4) of the 
        General Education Provisions Act is amended by adding at the 
        end the following:
    ``(C) For purposes of this section, the term `instructional 
materials' means textbooks, audio/visual materials, manuals, journals, 
films, tapes, or other supplementary materials.
    ``(D) For purposes of this section, the term `medical records' 
means information regarding the medical health of a student and 
includes any guidance and psychological or psychiatric testing or 
treatment.
    ``(E) For purposes of this section, the term `standardized 
achievement test' means any common test administered during the current 
or previous school year throughout a school, local educational agency, 
or State and includes the individual test results of a child, as well 
as any available statistical comparison data regarding test results of 
the child's age or grade level.''.
    (b) Civil Action.--Section 444 of the General Education Provisions 
Act is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i)(1) A parent of an elementary or secondary school student 
whose right to gain access to instructional materials, medical records, 
or standardized achievement tests during the 30-day compliance period 
set forth in subsection (a)(1)(A) has been knowingly or negligently 
violated may maintain an action for appropriate relief after the last 
day of such period. Appropriate relief includes equitable or 
declaratory relief and reasonably incurred litigation costs, including 
a reasonable attorney's fee.
    ``(2) A civil action under this subsection may not commence more 
than 2 years after the last day of the 30-day compliance period set 
forth in subsection (a)(1)(A).''.
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