[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S665-S667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HUTCHINSON (for himself, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Smith of New 
        Hampshire, Mr. Craig, Ms. Collins, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Faircloth, 
        and Mr. Helms):
  S. 1631. A bill to amend the General Education Provisions Act to 
allow parents access to certain information; to the Committee on Labor 
and Human Resources.


                the parental freedom of information act

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, imagine, if you will, that your 
daughter is given an assignment by her teacher which requires her to 
keep a journal, not just a journal of her own intimate and very private 
thoughts, but of answers to questions that have been posed to her by 
her teacher. Should you as a parent have a right to know what questions 
the teacher has posed, what questions the teacher has asked?
  Now imagine that a research team from a local university is given 
permission by your child's school to perform psychological exams on 
your son or daughter. Should you as a parent in that situation have a 
right to approve of this exam before it takes place? Should you as a 
parent at least be informed about the impending exams?
  Finally, Mr. President, imagine that your son is required to take a 
class in ``decisionmaking'' which you are concerned may include 
discussion of issues that might violate or be contrary to the teachings 
you have espoused and inculcated in your children in the

[[Page S666]]

home.Should you, in that circumstance, as a parent have a right to 
review the classroom material prior to enrolling your children in that 
particular class, in that decisionmaking class?
  In each of these three examples, the clear and, I think, the obvious 
answer is yes, parents, as those to whom primary responsibility for the 
education of their children is entrusted, should be allowed to know 
what questions their children are being asked; parents should have the 
right to decide whether or not their children are examined 
psychologically; parents should have the right to review their 
children's curriculum.
  Unfortunately, the above examples are not just random hypotheticals 
that I dreamed up or that I had my staff dream up. These are real-world 
examples of how public schools are currently usurping the rights of 
parents to be informed about the education of their children.
  Mr. and Mrs. Robinson from Sheridan, AR, have yet to learn what 
questions were posed to their daughter by her teacher in an in-class 
journaling assignment. Parents in Monroeville, PA, have yet to obtain 
their children's records maintained as a part of a research project run 
in their children's school by the University of Pittsburgh. Parents in 
California have been forced to go to court to view the curriculum being 
used in their local school for a class that they fear may delve into 
deeply personal matters.
  How can this be the case? How can we have this situation in a country 
founded on the principles of freedom, in a country that has always 
respected the parents' ultimate authority in the rearing and education 
of their children? How can parents be denied basic information relating 
to their children's education?
  The answer may lie in a book recently published by Eric Buehrer 
entitled ``The Public Orphanage.'' In this book, Mr. Buehrer points out 
that public schools have become ``one-stop social service agencies'' 
attempting to address the needs of children that were traditionally the 
responsibility of the children's parents.
  Whether this trend is the errant result of a legitimate attempt to 
fill the void left in children's lives with the breakdown of the 
American family, or whether this trend is part of a more sinister 
philosophy based on belief that ``Washington or Government knows 
best,'' it is a trend that is leading to lower educational achievement 
and to less clearly defined standards of right and wrong for our 
Nation's children. In short, I think it is a trend that we should not 
allow to continue.
  The importance of parents in the education of their children was 
clearly emphasized in 1994 by Secretary of Education Richard Riley in 
testimony before the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. In this 
testimony, Secretary Riley, I think very powerfully and poignantly, 
emphasized that ``Thirty years of research tells us that the starting 
point of American education is parental expectations and parental 
involvement with their children's education'' and that schools must 
``establish a supportive environment for family involvement.''
  Despite this important parental role, Secretary Riley pointed out 
that ``many parents feel that their right to be involved in school 
policy--to be full participants in the learning process--is being 
ignored, frustrated or even denied.'' In short, Secretary Riley noted 
that many parents simply do not feel ``valued'' by the schools that 
educate their children.

  So today, I am introducing legislation that will value the role of 
parents in educating their children. It will help to establish a 
supportive environment for families by guaranteeing parents a place at 
the table in decisions central to the creation and implementation of 
education policies within their local schools.
  This legislation builds on the already well-established principles 
outlined in the 1974 Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which 
ensures that parents have access to all records which public schools 
maintain on their children. The Parental Freedom of Information Act, 
which I am introducing today, will strengthen the rights of parents by 
guaranteeing them access to the curriculum being used to teach their 
children. Current law, the 1974 law, ensures that parents will have 
access to the records and files that are maintained on their children. 
But we need to go a step further. We need to build on that successful 
1974 legislation by ensuring that parents also have the right to access 
the curriculum being used to teach their children. I think it is a 
reasonable provision which allows parents to review their children's 
textbooks, audio-visual materials, manuals, journals, films and any 
other supplemental material used to educate their children.
  On the surface, one would think this legislation shouldn't be 
necessary. I think most Americans assume that parents already have the 
right to go into the school and ask to see the books, ask to see the 
curriculum materials, ask to see the supplemental materials, ask 
permission to view a film that might be shown to their children, to 
look at the journals that are in the library, and to have basic access 
to all of the information and all of the curriculum materials being 
used in the education of their children. But unfortunately, the record 
is now replete with examples of where parents have run into a stone 
wall and have met stiff resistance when they have tried to obtain that 
kind of basic educational information. Information which is so 
essential to the education of their children.
  So we say on one hand, we want parents to be supportive, we want 
parents to be involved, we want parents to attend PTA, we want them to 
attend parent-teacher conferences, we want them to show by their 
actions that they are actively involved in the education and upbringing 
of their children. We don't want our public schools to be social 
orphanages that take care of the children from breakfast until supper.
  Then, on the other hand, we allow policies to be enacted in local 
schools across this country that resist that very desire by many 
parents, that make it difficult, if not impossible, to access critical 
materials being used in the education of their children.
  The Parental Freedom of Information Act will provide parents access 
to curriculum and to the testing materials administered to their 
children, and it will require parental consent prior to any student 
being subjected to medical, psychological or psychiatric examinations, 
testing or treatment at the school.
  This legislation is very basic and straightforward and, I think, is 
just plain common sense. This legislation will empower parents by 
providing them access to the information they need to oversee and 
direct the education of their children and will slow, and hopefully 
reverse, the establishment of schools as public orphanages.
  I look forward to pursuing this legislation in committee and with my 
colleagues in the Senate.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1631

       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,

[[Page S667]]

     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''.
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