Testimony

Parental Notification Bills

September 18, 2003

Our testimony at the State House before the Education Committee against so-called "parental notification" bills, bills which would allow "some parents" to make decisions about what the whole class should study. They are principally directed at sex education and AIDS prevention courses, but in some jurisdictions, they are also used to censor the curriculum.  - Sheila Decter

I (Sheila Decter) am here on behalf of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action and Citizens for Public Schools.

Parental rights legislation is not typically about family autonomy or the right of individual parents to guide the education of their own children. It is the attempt by a minority of parents to proscribe what all children may learn. Often these bills threaten the rights and well being of minors, jeopardizing their access to sexuality education, birth control, and AIDS prevention services, etc.

These are issues of both individual health and well being and more importantly public health that affects the greater community. Often the student most in need of information about AIDS comes from a family who doesn't talk about such issues.

JALSA believes that while parents should play a vital role in shaping the lives of their children, individual parents should not be allowed to impose their own values on entire school systems. The current law allows parents to opt their children out of sex education. While JALSA believes these programs fill important public health goals, we understand that such opt out provisions strike a careful balance between parental rights, minor’s rights and public health goals. However, opt in provisions, such as those in the proposed bill, interfere too broadly with school curricula decisions. Earlier testimony was given about schools failing to notify parents. This should be handled and monitored at local level. There is no assurance that opt-in will not have some errors, too. We should not be hurting the majority of students because of an oversight of a few. It is for school authorities to determine if such programs should be elective courses or regularly required courses, and whether school personnel should be required to teach the courses. The notion that teaching about sexual orientation, sexual identification, or AIDS are areas where teachers may exclude themselves is, likewise, an invasion of the prerogatives of school administrators.

Recently a teacher passed away in the town where I live. She was a middle school teacher who taught health education. Students spoke out on how much she meant to them. How in her class they were taught how to make informed decisions and take responsibility for their own behaviors. They also spoke about how important it is to have a place where you can have your questions answered , to have a neutral person with whom you can be comfortable asking those questions.

This legislation could deprive many students of that important opportunity.

House Bills 1445 and 2757 should be rejected.

Sheila Decter, Director, JALSA and Marilyn Segal, Director, Citizens for Public Schools