[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1631 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1631

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 11, 1998

 Mr. Hutchinson (for himself, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, 
   Mr. Craig, Ms. Collins, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Faircloth, and Mr. Helms) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                 Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 AND CONSENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 444 of the General Education Provisions 
Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Instructional and Testing Materials.--
            ``(1) In general.--No funds shall be made available under 
        any applicable program to any educational agency or institution 
        that has a policy of denying, or that effectively prevents, the 
        parent of an elementary school or secondary school student 
        served by such agency or at such institution, as the case may 
        be, the right to inspect and review any instructional material 
        used with respect to the educational curriculum of, or testing 
        material administered to, the student. Each educational agency 
        or institution shall establish appropriate procedures for the 
        granting of a request by parents for access to the 
        instructional material or testing material within a reasonable 
        period of time, but in no case more than 30 days after the 
        request has been made.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Instructional material.--The term 
                `instructional material' means a textbook, audio/visual 
                material, manual, journal, film, tape, or any other 
                material supplementary to the educational curriculum of 
                a student.
                    ``(B) Testing material.--The term `testing 
                material' means a copy of any test (without responses) 
                that is administered to a student during the current or 
                preceding school year, and if available, any 
                statistical comparison data regarding the test results 
                with respect to the student's age or grade level. The 
                term does not include a nonclassroom diagnostic test, a 
                standardized assessment or standardized achievement 
                test, or a test subject to a copyright agreement.
    ``(j) Right of Access.--
            ``(1) In general.--A parent of an elementary school or 
        secondary school student whose right to gain access to 
        information or material made available to the parent under this 
        section during the 30-day compliance period set forth in 
        subsection (a)(1) or (i)(1) is 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) Limitation.--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) or (i)(1).
    ``(k) Parental Consent.--No funds shall be made available under any 
applicable program to an educational agency or institution that, as 
part of an applicable program and without the prior written, informed 
consent of the parent of a student, requires the student--
            ``(1) to undergo medical, psychological, or psychiatric 
        examination, testing, treatment, or immunization (except in the 
        case of a medical emergency); or
            ``(2) to reveal any information about the student's 
        personal or family life (except to the extent necessary to 
        comply with the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 
        U.S.C. 5101 et seq.)).''.
    (b) Right of Access.--The third sentence of section 444(a)(1)(A) of 
the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(1)(A)) is 
amended by striking ``forty-five'' and inserting ``30''.
                                 <all>