[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE PARENTAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Parental Freedom 
of Information Act to provide parents in America with the information 
they need to guide the education of their children. Teachers have told 
me that involved parents are the most important thing the public 
schools need to help students learn. Involved parents must be informed 
parents.
  The Parental Freedom of Information Act will guarantee that parents 
have access to their child's curriculum, the contents and result of 
standardized tests and medical records, including psychiatric and/or 
counseling records.
  Recently, parents have been denied access to instructional materials 
used in classes which they might find objectionable. They have been 
denied achievement tests that have been administered and then withheld 
from parental inspection, and treatments by unqualified school 
counselors have been administered to children contrary to the expressed 
objections of parents, and the records of this treatment were denied to 
the parents. Parents have been forced into the courtroom to find out 
what is going on in the classroom.
  This act in no way seeks to influence curriculum or standardized 
tests. It simply provides the basic information which involved parents 
need to guide the education of their children.

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