Burton files modest education transparency bill; Sexual Authoritarians throw fit....

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."
2 Corinthians 11:14

Last week, Konni Burton filed a bill that would increase transparency and parental involvement in government schools.  This was met with hysteria from disingenuous national left wing groups claiming the bill would 'out' homosexual students.  Today, Burton explained the issue in detail:

[T]he focus of our bill has nothing to do with issues of sexuality and gender, and everything to do with how parents are treated by the government entities they fund. I would firmly stand against any policy that treated parents as unessential in their child’s life, regardless of what group the policies were intended for. You will not find the words “sexuality” or “gender” anywhere in the proposed bill. You will find, in addition to what is already a parent’s right to know (again, listed above), that we include the child’s general well-being and health, both physical and mental, in our proposed legislation.

It’s also imperative to note that existing law, as well as my proposed bill, have an exception for abuse or neglect, which clearly calls for reporting without the knowledge or consent of the parent.

Beyond that, the bill does not require a school district employee to stop everything they’re doing and reach out to a parent. Again, state law already secures a parent’s right to know on numerous elements of their child’s life and teachers today are not expected, asked, or mandated to stop mid-lesson to reach a parent. Currently, a teacher may decide when and how to proactively reach out to a parent about anything of importance to them, which is how it should work. The proposed bill does absolutely nothing to change this present mechanism for a parent’s right to know. The bill does, however, strengthen the existing expectation that when a parent contacts a school and inquires about their child, they will receive accurate information and not be punished by local policies that while well-intended, do more harm than good.

Many of the extremely sad and dire scenarios being spread by those who peddle in misinformation and stoke the flames of fear are not only incongruous to the proposed bill as written, they are incongruous with existing state law. In short: parents and schools have always been partners in the education and rearing of children, and they have always exchanged information in the best interest of the child. However, myself and others witnessed firsthand a local school in my district attempt to subvert that relationship.

Read the whole thing here.