118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5
AN ACT
To ensure the rights of parents are honored and protected
in the Nation’s public schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 5 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Parents Bill of Rights 2
Act’’. 3
TITLE I—AMENDMENTS TO THE 4
ELEMENTARY AND SEC-5
ONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 6
1965 7
SEC. 101. STATE PLAN ASSURANCES. 8
Section 1111(g)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary 9
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(g)(2)) is amend-10
ed— 11
(1) in subparagraph (M), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 12
the end; 13
(2) in subparagraph (N), by striking the period 14
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 15
(3) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(O) the State will ensure that each local 17
educational agency in the State— 18
‘‘(i) in a case in which the curriculum 19
for an elementary or secondary school (in-20
cluding secondary career and technical 21
education schools) grade level is freely and 22
publicly available on the internet— 23
‘‘(I) posts on a publicly accessible 24
website of the agency, such cur-25
riculum; or 26 3
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(II) if such agency does not op-1
erate a website, widely disseminates to 2
the public such curriculum; or 3
‘‘(ii) in a case in which the curriculum 4
for an elementary or secondary school (in-5
cluding secondary career and technical 6
education schools) grade level is not freely 7
and publicly available on the internet— 8
‘‘(I) posts on a publicly accessible 9
website of the agency— 10
‘‘(aa) a description of such 11
curriculum; and 12
‘‘(bb) information on how 13
parents can review such cur-14
riculum as described in section 15
1112(e)(1)(A); or 16
‘‘(II) if such agency does not op-17
erate a website, widely disseminates to 18
the public the description and infor-19
mation described in items (aa) and 20
(bb) of subclause (I); and 21
‘‘(P) in the case of any revisions to the 22
State’s challenging State academic standards 23
(including any revisions to the levels of achieve-24
ment within the State’s academic achievement 25 4
•HR 5 EH
standards), the State educational agency will 1
post to the homepage of its website, and widely 2
disseminate to the public, notice of such revi-3
sions and a copy of such revisions, except that 4
the State educational agency shall not be re-5
quired to submit such notice or such revisions 6
to the Secretary.’’. 7
SEC. 102. ANNUAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REPORT 8
CARDS. 9
Section 1111(h)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary 10
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(2)) is amended 11
by inserting at the end the following new subparagraph: 12
‘‘(E) B
UDGET.—Each local educational 13
agency report card shall include the budget for 14
the school year for which such report card is 15
being prepared (including all revenues and ex-16
penditures (including expenditures made to pri-17
vate entities)) for the local educational agency 18
as a whole, and for each elementary school and 19
secondary school (including secondary career 20
and technical education schools) served by the 21
local educational agency. In addition to the de-22
tailed budget information required under the 23
preceding sentence, the agency shall include a 24
separate fact sheet that summarizes such infor-25 5
•HR 5 EH
mation in a clear and easily understandable for-1
mat.’’. 2
SEC. 103. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY PLAN ASSUR-3
ANCES. 4
Section 1112(c) of the Elementary and Secondary 5
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6312(c)) is amended— 6
(1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 7
end; 8
(2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 9
the end and inserting a semicolon; and 10
(3) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(8) meet the requirements described in section 12
1111(g)(2)(O); 13
‘‘(9) post on a publicly accessible website of the 14
local educational agency or, if the local educational 15
agency does not operate a website, widely dissemi-16
nate to the public, the plan for carrying out the par-17
ent and family engagement described in section 18
1116 and all policies and procedures that result 19
from such engagement; 20
‘‘(10) ensure that each elementary school served 21
by the local educational agency notifies the parents 22
of any student enrolled at such school when the stu-23
dent does not score as grade-level proficient in read-24
ing or language arts at the end of the third grade 25 6
•HR 5 EH
based on the reading or language arts assessments 1
administered under section 1111(b)(2)(B)(v)(I)(aa) 2
or another assessment administered to all third 3
grade students by such school; and 4
‘‘(11) ensure that each elementary school and 5
secondary school (including secondary career and 6
technical education schools) served by the local edu-7
cational agency provides to the parents of students 8
enrolled at such school, before a person speaks (in- 9
person or virtually) to such students in a class, 10
school assembly, or any other school-sponsored 11
event, notice that includes the name of the speaker 12
and the name of the organization or other entity 13
being represented by the speaker.’’. 14
SEC. 104. PARENTS RIGHT-TO-KNOW. 15
Section 1112(e) of the Elementary and Secondary 16
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6312(e)) is amended— 17
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), 18
and (4) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (6), respec-19
tively; 20
(2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so re-21
designated), the following: 22
‘‘(1) N
OTICE OF RIGHTS.—A local educational 23
agency receiving funds under this part shall ensure 24
that each elementary school and secondary school 25 7
•HR 5 EH
(including secondary career and technical education 1
schools) served by such agency posts on a publicly 2
accessible website of the school or, if the school does 3
not operate a website, widely disseminates to the 4
public, a summary notice of the right of parents to 5
information about their children’s education as re-6
quired under this Act, which shall be in an under-7
standable format for parents and include, at min-8
imum— 9
‘‘(A) the right (provided in accordance 10
with the requirements of section 445(a)(2) of 11
the General Education Provisions Act (20 12
U.S.C. 1232h(a)(2)) with respect to such local 13
educational agency) to review, and make copies 14
of, at no cost, the curriculum of their child’s 15
school; 16
‘‘(B) the right to know if the State alters 17
the State’s challenging State academic stand-18
ards; 19
‘‘(C) the right to meet with each teacher of 20
their child not less than twice during each 21
school year in accordance with paragraph 22
(5)(A); 23 8
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(D) the right to review the budget, in-1
cluding all revenues and expenditures, of their 2
child’s school; 3
‘‘(E) the right to— 4
‘‘(i) a list of the books and other read-5
ing materials available in the library of 6
their child’s school; and 7
‘‘(ii) inspect such books or other read-8
ing materials; 9
‘‘(F) the right to information about all 10
schools in which their child can enroll, including 11
options for enrolling in or transferring to— 12
‘‘(i) other schools served by the local 13
educational agency; 14
‘‘(ii) charter schools; and 15
‘‘(iii) schools served by a different 16
local educational agency in the State; 17
‘‘(G) the right to address the school board 18
of the local educational agency; 19
‘‘(H) the right to information about violent 20
activity in their child’s school; 21
‘‘(I) the right to information about any 22
plans to eliminate gifted and talented or college 23
credit programs in the child’s school, including 24 9
•HR 5 EH
Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment class-1
es; 2
‘‘(J) the right to review any professional 3
development materials; 4
‘‘(K) the right to know if their child is not 5
grade-level proficient in reading or language 6
arts at the end of the third grade as described 7
in subsection (c)(10); 8
‘‘(L) the right to know if a school employee 9
or contractor acts to— 10
‘‘(i) change a minor child’s gender 11
markers, pronouns, or preferred name; or 12
‘‘(ii) allow a child to change the 13
child’s sex-based accommodations, includ-14
ing locker rooms or bathrooms; 15
‘‘(M) the right to know if— 16
‘‘(i) a school employee or contractor 17
acts to— 18
‘‘(I) treat, advise, or address the 19
cyberbullying of a student; 20
‘‘(II) treat, advise, or address the 21
bullying or hazing of a student; 22
‘‘(III) treat, advise, or address a 23
student’s mental health, suicidal idea-24
tion, or instances of self-harm; 25 10
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(IV) treat, advise, or address a 1
specific threat to the safety of a stu-2
dent; 3
‘‘(V) treat, advise, or address the 4
possession or use of drugs and other 5
controlled substances; or 6
‘‘(VI) treat, advise, or address an 7
eating disorder; or 8
‘‘(ii) a child brings a weapon to 9
school; 10
‘‘(N) the right to the notice described in 11
subsection (c)(11) before a person speaks (in- 12
person or virtually) to their child in a class, 13
school assembly, or any other school-sponsored 14
event; 15
‘‘(O) the right to be informed of the total 16
number of school counselors in their child’s 17
school; 18
‘‘(P) the right to know if their child’s 19
school operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic 20
programs or activities that permit an individual 21
whose biological sex is male to participate in an 22
athletic program or activity that is designated 23
for individuals whose biological sex is female; 24 11
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(Q) the right to know if their child’s 1
school allows an individual whose biological sex 2
is male to use restrooms or changing rooms 3
designated for individuals whose biological sex 4
is female; and 5
‘‘(R) the right to timely notice of any 6
major cyberattack against their child’s school 7
that may have compromised student or parent 8
information.’’; 9
(3) in paragraph (2)(B) (as redesignated by 10
paragraph (1))— 11
(A) by redesignating clause (i) and clause 12
(ii) as subclause (I) and subclause (II), respec-13
tively; 14
(B) by striking ‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL INFOR-15
MATION.—’’ and inserting: 16
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL INFORMATION .— 17
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—’’; and 18
(C) by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘(ii) S
CHOOL LIBRARY.—A local edu-20
cational agency receiving funds under this 21
part shall ensure that each elementary 22
school and secondary school (including sec-23
ondary career and technical education 24
schools) served by such agency provides 25 12
•HR 5 EH
the parents of each child who is a student 1
in such school— 2
‘‘(I) at the beginning of each 3
school year, a list of books and other 4
reading materials available in the li-5
brary of such school; and 6
‘‘(II) the opportunity to inspect 7
such books and other reading mate-8
rials. 9
‘‘(iii) V
IOLENT ACTIVITY.—A local 10
educational agency receiving funds under 11
this part shall ensure that each elementary 12
school and secondary school (including sec-13
ondary career and technical education 14
schools) served by such agency provides 15
the parents of each child who is a student 16
in such school timely notification of any 17
violent activity occurring on school grounds 18
or at school-sponsored activities in which 19
one or more individuals suffer injuries (in-20
cluding whether such agency is aware of 21
videos or recordings of such violent activ-22
ity), except that such notification shall not 23
contain names or the grade level of any 24
students involved in the activity. 25 13
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(iv) GIFTED AND TALENTED PRO -1
GRAMS.—A local educational agency receiv-2
ing funds under this part shall ensure that 3
each elementary school and secondary 4
school (including secondary career and 5
technical education schools) served by such 6
agency provides the parents of each child 7
who is a student in such school timely noti-8
fication of any plan to eliminate gifted and 9
talented or college credit programs in such 10
school, including Advanced Placement and 11
dual-enrollment classes. 12
‘‘(v) S
CHOOL COUNSELORS .—A local 13
educational agency receiving funds under 14
this part shall ensure that each elementary 15
school and secondary school (including sec-16
ondary career and technical education 17
schools) served by such agency provides 18
the parents of each child who is a student 19
in such school the information described in 20
paragraph (1)(O). 21
‘‘(vi) E
NROLLMENT OPTIONS .—A 22
local educational agency receiving funds 23
under this part shall ensure that each ele-24
mentary school and secondary school (in-25 14
•HR 5 EH
cluding secondary career and technical 1
education schools) served by such agency 2
provides the parents of each child who is 3
a student in such school the information 4
described in paragraph (1)(F), including 5
the enrollment and transfer options de-6
scribed in such paragraph. 7
‘‘(vii) S
CHOOL EMPLOYEE OR CON -8
TRACTOR ACTIONS .—A local educational 9
agency receiving funds under this part 10
shall ensure that each elementary school 11
and secondary school (including secondary 12
career and technical education schools) 13
served by such agency notifies the parents 14
of any child who is a student in such 15
school if a school employee or contractor 16
takes, with respect to such child, any ac-17
tion described in clause (i) or (ii) of para-18
graph (1)(L). 19
‘‘(viii) S
CHOOL AND STUDENT SAFE -20
TY.—A local educational agency receiving 21
funds under this part shall ensure that 22
each elementary school and secondary 23
school (including secondary career and 24 15
•HR 5 EH
technical education schools) served by such 1
agency notifies— 2
‘‘(I) the parents of any child who 3
is a student in such school if a school 4
employee or contractor takes, with re-5
spect to such child, any action de-6
scribed in clause (i) of paragraph 7
(1)(M); and 8
‘‘(II) the parents of each child 9
who is a student in such school if any 10
child takes the action described in 11
clause (ii) of paragraph (1)(M). 12
‘‘(ix) P
ROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 13
MATERIALS.—A local educational agency 14
receiving funds under this part shall en-15
sure that each elementary school and sec-16
ondary school (including secondary career 17
and technical education schools) served by 18
such agency provides the parents of each 19
child who is a student in such school the 20
opportunity to review professional develop-21
ment materials to ensure the parental right 22
described in paragraph (1)(J). 23
‘‘(x) A
THLETIC PROGRAMS OR ACTIVI -24
TIES.—A local educational agency receiving 25 16
•HR 5 EH
funds under this part shall ensure that 1
each elementary school and secondary 2
school (including secondary career and 3
technical education schools) served by such 4
agency provides the parents of each child 5
who is a student in such school the infor-6
mation described in paragraph (1)(O). 7
‘‘(xi) A
CCOMMODATIONS.—A local 8
educational agency receiving funds under 9
this part shall ensure that each elementary 10
school and secondary school (including sec-11
ondary career and technical education 12
schools) served by such agency provides 13
the parents of each child who is a student 14
in such school the information described in 15
paragraph (1)(O). 16
‘‘(xii) C
YBERATTACKS.—A local edu-17
cational agency receiving funds under this 18
part shall ensure that each elementary 19
school and secondary school (including sec-20
ondary career and technical education 21
schools) served by such agency provides 22
the parents of each child who is a student 23
in such school notifications described in 24
paragraph (1)(O).’’; and 25 17
•HR 5 EH
(4) by inserting after paragraph (4) (as redesig-1
nated by paragraph (1)) the following: 2
‘‘(5) T
RANSPARENCY.—A local educational 3
agency receiving funds under this part shall provide 4
the parents of each child who is a student in an ele-5
mentary school or secondary school (including sec-6
ondary career and technical education schools) 7
served by such agency— 8
‘‘(A)(i) the opportunity to meet in-person 9
or virtually via videoconference with each teach-10
er of such child not less than twice during each 11
school year; and 12
‘‘(ii) a notification, at the beginning of 13
each school year, of the opportunity for such 14
meetings, including the option to attend such 15
meetings virtually via videoconference; and 16
‘‘(B) the opportunity to address the school 17
board of such local educational agency on issues 18
impacting the education of children in such 19
agency and on any violations of the rights spec-20
ified in paragraph (1).’’. 21 18
•HR 5 EH
SEC. 105. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FIRST AMENDMENT 1
RIGHTS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Title VIII of the Elementary and 3
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et 4
seq.) is amended— 5
(1) by redesignating section 8549C as section 6
8549D; and 7
(2) by inserting after section 8549B the fol-8
lowing new section: 9
‘‘SEC. 8549C. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON FIRST AMENDMENT 10
RIGHTS. 11
‘‘(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 12
‘‘(1) The right of parents to educate their chil-13
dren is a pre-political natural right that the U.S. 14
Supreme Court has recognized as ‘beyond debate’ 15
and rooted in the ‘history and culture of Western 16
civilization’. 17
‘‘(2) Parents have a First Amendment right to 18
express their opinions on decisions made by State 19
and local education leaders. 20
‘‘(3) States and local educational agencies 21
should empower parents to communicate regularly 22
with Federal, State, and local policymakers and edu-23
cators regarding the education and well-being of 24
their children. 25 19
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(4) Transparent and cooperative relationships 1
between parents and schools have significant and 2
long-lasting positive effects on the development of 3
children. 4
‘‘(5) Parents’ concerns over content and peda-5
gogy deserve to be heard and fully considered by 6
school professionals. 7
‘‘(6) Parent and other community input about 8
schools that is presented in a lawful and appropriate 9
manner should always be encouraged. 10
‘‘(7) Educators, policymakers, elected officials, 11
Executive Branch officials and employees, and other 12
stakeholders should never seek to use law enforce-13
ment to criminalize the lawfully expressed concerns 14
of parents about their children’s education, but 15
should never hesitate to contact public safety offi-16
cials if there is a credible threat to the safety and 17
security of students, parents, educators, policy-18
makers, elected officials, executive branch officials or 19
employees, or other stakeholders, school faculty, or 20
staff. 21
‘‘(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-22
gress that— 23
‘‘(1) the First Amendment guarantees parents 24
and other stakeholders the right to assemble and ex-25 20
•HR 5 EH
press their opinions on decisions affecting their chil-1
dren and communities, and that educators and pol-2
icymakers should welcome and encourage that en-3
gagement and consider that feedback when making 4
decisions; and 5
‘‘(2) parents have a fundamental right, pro-6
tected by the U.S. Constitution, to direct the edu-7
cation of their children, and the strict scrutiny test 8
used by courts to evaluate cases concerning funda-9
mental rights is the correct standard of review for 10
government actions that interfere with the right of 11
parents to educate their children.’’. 12
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents in 13
section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 14
of 1965 is amended— 15
(1) by striking the item relating to section 16
8549C; and 17
(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-18
tion 8549B the following: 19
Sec. 8549C. Sense of Congress on First Amendment Rights.
Sec. 8549D. Technical assistance.
SEC. 106. DEFINITION OF SECONDARY CAREER AND TECH-
20
NICAL EDUCATION SCHOOL. 21
Section 8101 the Elementary and Secondary Edu-22
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) is amended— 23 21
•HR 5 EH
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (45) through 1
(52) as paragraphs (46) through (53), respectively; 2
and 3
(2) by inserting after paragraph (44) the fol-4
lowing new paragraph: 5
‘‘(45) S
ECONDARY CAREER AND TECHNICAL 6
EDUCATION SCHOOL .—The term ‘secondary career 7
and technical education school’ means a secondary 8
school (including secondary career and technical 9
education schools) that is an area career and tech-10
nical education school described in subparagraph (A) 11
or (B) of paragraph (3) of section 3 of the Carl D. 12
Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 13
2006 (20 U.S.C. 2032(3)(A); (B)).’’. 14
TITLE II—AMENDMENTS TO 15
FERPA AND PPRA 16
SEC. 201. AMENDMENTS TO THE FAMILY EDUCATIONAL 17
RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT OF 1974. 18
(a) E
NFORCEMENT.—Section 444(f) of the General 19
Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (also known 20
as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 21
1974’’) (20 U.S.C. 1232g(f)) is amended by adding at the 22
end the following: ‘‘The Secretary shall comply with the 23
reporting requirement under section 445(e)(2)(C)(ii) with 24 22
•HR 5 EH
respect to the enforcement actions taken under this sub-1
section to ensure compliance with this section.’’. 2
(b) P
ROHIBITION ONEDUCATIONALAGENCIES OR 3
I
NSTITUTIONSACTING AS ANAGENT OF APARENT.—Sec-4
tion 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 5
U.S.C. 1232g) (also known as the ‘‘Family Educational 6
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’) is amended by adding 7
at the end the following: 8
‘‘(k) P
ROHIBITION ONEDUCATIONALAGENCIES OR 9
I
NSTITUTIONSACTING ASAGENT OF APARENT FORUSE 10
OFTECHNOLOGY.—An educational agency or institution 11
may not act as the agent of a parent of a student in at-12
tendance at a school of such agency or at such institution 13
for purposes of providing verifiable parental consent for 14
the use of technology in the classroom for purposes of edu-15
cating the student without providing notice and an oppor-16
tunity for the parent to object to the use of such tech-17
nology. 18
‘‘(l) P
ROHIBITION ONEDUCATIONALAGENCIES OR 19
I
NSTITUTIONSACTING ASAGENT OF APARENT FORVAC-20
CINES.—An educational agency or institution may not act 21
as the agent of a parent of a student in attendance at 22
a school of such agency or at such institution for purposes 23
of providing verifiable parental consent for a vaccina-24
tion.’’. 25 23
•HR 5 EH
(c) PROHIBITION ON SALE OFINFORMATION FOR 1
C
OMMERCIALPURPOSES.—Section 444 of the General 2
Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (also known 3
as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 4
1974’’), as amended by this section, is further amended 5
by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(m) P
ROHIBITION ONSALE OFINFORMATION FOR 7
C
OMMERCIALPURPOSES.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-9
graph (2), no educational agency or institution or 10
authorized representative of such agency or institu-11
tion may sell student information for commercial or 12
financial gain. 13
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTIONS.—The prohibition described 14
in paragraph (1) shall not apply to products sold to 15
students by or on behalf of the educational agency 16
or institution, such as yearbooks, prom tickets, and 17
school pictures.’’. 18
(d) P
ARENTALCONSULTATION.—Section 444 of the 19
General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) (also 20
known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Privacy 21
Act of 1974’’), as amended by this section, is further 22
amended by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(n) P
ARENTALCONSULTATION.—In developing a 24
privacy policy or procedure, an educational agency or insti-25 24
•HR 5 EH
tution shall engage meaningfully with parents of students 1
in attendance at the schools served by such agency or in-2
stitution.’’. 3
(e) D
ISCLOSURE OFINFORMATION.—Section 444 of 4
the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) 5
(also known as the ‘‘Family Educational Rights and Pri-6
vacy Act of 1974’’), as amended by this section, is further 7
amended by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(o) D
ISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.—An edu-9
cational agency or institution or authorized representative 10
of such agency or institution shall, upon request from a 11
parent of a student, disclose to such parent the identity 12
of any individual or entity with whom information is 13
shared from the education record of the student or any 14
response of the student to a survey.’’. 15
SEC. 202. PROTECTION OF PUPIL RIGHTS. 16
(a) A
VAILABILITY FORINSPECTION BYPARENTS OR 17
G
UARDIANS.—Section 445(a) of the General Education 18
Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232h(a)) is amended to read 19
as follows: 20
‘‘(a) A
VAILABILITY FORINSPECTION BYPARENTS OR 21
G
UARDIANS.—A local educational agency (as such term 22
is defined in subsection (c)(6)(C)) that receives funds 23
under any applicable program shall ensure the following: 24 25
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(1) INFORMATION AVAILABLE .—Each of the 1
following shall be available for inspection by the par-2
ents or guardians of the children in attendance at 3
the schools served by such agency, and the avail-4
ability of each of the following for inspection shall 5
not be conditioned on any requirement that such 6
parents or guardians sign a nondisclosure agree-7
ment: 8
‘‘(A) All instructional materials, including 9
teacher’s manuals, films, tapes, or other supple-10
mentary material which will be used in such 11
school or in connection with any survey, anal-12
ysis, or evaluation. 13
‘‘(B) Any books or other reading materials 14
made available to students in such school or 15
through the school library of such school. 16
‘‘(C) Any professional development mate-17
rials. 18
‘‘(2) C
OMMENT PERIODS FOR PARENTS .— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The agency shall pro-20
vide comment periods during which parents or 21
guardians of the children in attendance at the 22
schools served by the agency may inspect and 23
provide feedback on any of the materials re-24
ferred to in paragraph (1) that— 25 26
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(i) are expected to be used to teach 1
such children during the three weeks fol-2
lowing the comment period; or 3
‘‘(ii) were used to teach such children 4
during preceding portions of the school 5
year. 6
‘‘(B) F
REQUENCY AND DURATION .—The 7
comment periods described in subparagraph (A) 8
shall be held not less frequently than once every 9
three weeks during the school year and each 10
comment period shall be not less than three 11
school days in duration.’’. 12
(b) S
INGLEISSUENOTIFICATION.—Section 445(b) of 13
the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232h) 14
is amended— 15
(1) by striking ‘‘prior consent of the student’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘prior written consent of the student’’; 17
and 18
(2) by inserting ‘‘, which is provided specifically 19
for such survey, analysis, or evaluation’’ before the 20
period at the end. 21
(c) D
EVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OFLOCALPOLI-22
CIES.—Section 445(c) of the General Education Provi-23
sions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232h(c)) is amended— 24 27
•HR 5 EH
(1) in the subsection heading, by striking 1
‘‘P
HYSICAL’’ and inserting ‘‘MEDICAL’’; 2
(2) in paragraph (1)— 3
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 4
(A), by striking ‘‘in consultation with parents’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘in consultation with parents in 6
accordance with paragraph (2)(A)’’; 7
(B) in subparagraph (C), by amending 8
clause (i) to read as follows: 9
‘‘(i) The right of a parent of a student 10
to inspect, upon the request of the parent, 11
any instructional material used as part of 12
the educational curriculum for the student, 13
and any books or other reading materials 14
made available to the student in a school 15
served by the agency or through the school 16
library; and’’; 17
(C) by amending subparagraph (D) to read 18
as follows: 19
‘‘(D) The administration of medical exami-20
nations or screenings that the school or agency 21
may administer to a student, including— 22
‘‘(i) prior notice to parents of such a 23
medical examination or screening, and re-24
ceipt of consent from parents before ad-25 28
•HR 5 EH
ministering such an examination or screen-1
ing; and 2
‘‘(ii) in the event of an emergency 3
that requires a medical examination or 4
screening without time for parental notifi-5
cation and consent, the procedure for 6
promptly notifying parents of such exam-7
ination or screening subsequent to such ex-8
amination or screening.’’; and 9
(D) by amending subparagraph (E) to 10
read as follows: 11
‘‘(E) The prohibition on the collection, dis-12
closure, or use of personal information collected 13
from students for the purpose of marketing or 14
for selling that information (or otherwise pro-15
viding that information to others for that pur-16
pose), other than for a legitimate educational 17
purpose to improve the education of students as 18
described in paragraph (4), and the arrange-19
ments to protect student privacy that are pro-20
vided by the agency in the event of such collec-21
tion, disclosure, or use for such a legitimate 22
educational purpose.’’. 23 29
•HR 5 EH
(d) PARENTALNOTIFICATION.—Paragraph (2) of 1
section 445(c) of the General Education Provisions Act 2
(20 U.S.C. 1232h(c)) is amended— 3
(1) in the paragraph heading, by inserting 4
‘‘
CONSULTATION AND’’ before ‘‘NOTIFICATION’’; 5
(2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through 6
(C) as subparagraphs (B) through (D), respectively; 7
(3) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesignated)— 8
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 9
end; 10
(B) by amending clause (ii) to read as fol-11
lows: 12
‘‘(ii) in the case of an activity de-13
scribed in clause (i) or (iii) of subpara-14
graph (D), offer an opportunity and clear 15
instructions for the parent (or in the case 16
of a student who is an adult or emanci-17
pated minor, the student) to opt the stu-18
dent out of participation in such activity;’’; 19
and 20
(C) by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(iii) in the case of an activity de-22
scribed in subparagraph (D)(i), a descrip-23
tion of how such activity is for a legitimate 24
educational purpose to improve the edu-25 30
•HR 5 EH
cation of students as described in para-1
graph (4); and 2
‘‘(iv) not require a student to submit 3
to a survey described in subparagraph 4
(D)(ii) without the prior written consent of 5
the student (if the student is an adult or 6
emancipated minor), or in the case of an 7
unemancipated minor, without the prior 8
written consent of the parent, which is pro-9
vided specifically for such survey.’’; 10
(4) by inserting before subparagraph (B) (as so 11
amended and redesignated), the following: 12
‘‘(A) P
ARENTAL CONSULTATION .—The pa-13
rental consultation required for the purpose of 14
developing and adopting policies under para-15
graphs (1) and (3) by a local educational agen-16
cy shall ensure that such policy is developed 17
with meaningful engagement by parents of stu-18
dents enrolled in schools served by that agen-19
cy.’’; and 20
(5) in subparagraph (D) (as redesignated by 21
paragraph (2))— 22
(A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol-23
lows: 24 31
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(i) Activities involving the collection, 1
disclosure, or use of personal information 2
collected from students for a legitimate 3
educational purpose to improve the edu-4
cation of students as described in para-5
graph (4).’’; and 6
(B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘invasive 7
physical’’ and inserting ‘‘medical’’. 8
(e) U
PDATES TOEXISTINGPOLICIES.—Paragraph 9
(3) of section 445(c) of the General Education Provisions 10
Act (20 U.S.C. 1232h(c)) is amended to read as follows: 11
‘‘(3) U
PDATES TO EXISTING POLICIES .— 12
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 13
days after the date of enactment of the Parents 14
Bill of Rights Act, a local educational agency 15
that receives funds under any applicable pro-16
gram shall— 17
‘‘(i) review policies covering the re-18
quirements of paragraph (1) as in effect on 19
the day before such date of enactment; and 20
‘‘(ii) develop and update such policies 21
to reflect the changes made to paragraph 22
(1) by the amendments made by the Par-23
ents Bill of Rights Act. 24 32
•HR 5 EH
‘‘(B) CONSULTATION AND NOTIFICA -1
TION.—In developing and updating the policies 2
under subparagraph (A), the agency shall com-3
ply with the consultation and notification re-4
quirements under paragraph (2).’’. 5
(f) E
XCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (4)(A) of section 6
445(c) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 7
U.S.C. 1232h(c)) is amended by amending the matter pre-8
ceding clause (i) to read as follows: 9
‘‘(A) E
DUCATIONAL PRODUCTS OR SERV -10
ICES.—For purposes of paragraph (1)(E), the 11
collection, disclosure, or use of personal infor-12
mation collected from students for a legitimate 13
educational purpose to improve the education of 14
students means the exclusive purpose of devel-15
oping, evaluating, or providing educational 16
products or services for, or to, students or 17
schools, such as the following:’’. 18
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—Paragraph (6) of section 445(c) 19
of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 20
1232h(c)) is amended— 21
(1) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as 22
follows: 23
‘‘(B) M
EDICAL EXAMINATION OR SCREEN -24
ING.—The term ‘medical examination or screen-25 33
•HR 5 EH
ing’ means any medical examination or screen-1
ing that involves the exposure of private body 2
parts, or any act during such examination or 3
screening that includes incision, insertion, or in-4
jection into the body, or a mental health or sub-5
stance use disorder screening, except that such 6
term does not include a hearing, vision, or scoli-7
osis screening, or an observational screening 8
carried out to comply with child find obligations 9
under the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-10
cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.).’’; and 11
(2) in subparagraph (E)— 12
(A) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘or’’; 13
(B) in clause (iv), by striking the period at 14
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 15
(C) by adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘(v) an email address.’’. 17
(h) E
NFORCEMENT AND REPORTING.—Subsection 18
(e) of section 445 of the General Education Provisions Act 19
(20 U.S.C. 1232h) is amended to read as follows: 20
‘‘(e) E
NFORCEMENT AND REPORTING.— 21
‘‘(1) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary shall take 22
such action as the Secretary determines appropriate 23
to enforce this section, except that action to termi-24
nate assistance provided under an applicable pro-25 34
•HR 5 EH
gram shall be taken only if the Secretary determines 1
that— 2
‘‘(A) there has been a failure to comply 3
with such section; and 4
‘‘(B) compliance with such section cannot 5
be secured by voluntary means. 6
‘‘(2) R
EPORTING.— 7
‘‘(A) L
OCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES .— 8
On an annual basis, each local educational 9
agency (as such term is defined in subsection 10
(c)(6)(C)) that receives funds under any appli-11
cable program shall— 12
‘‘(i) without identifying any personal 13
information of a student or students, re-14
port to the State educational agency any 15
enforcement actions or investigations car-16
ried out for the preceding school year to 17
ensure compliance with this section; and 18
‘‘(ii) publish such information on its 19
website or through other public means 20
used for parental notification if the agency 21
does not have a website. 22
‘‘(B) S
TATES.—On an annual basis, each 23
State educational agency shall provide to the 24
Secretary a report, with respect to the pre-25 35
•HR 5 EH
ceding school year, that includes all actions 1
local educational agencies have reported under 2
subparagraph (A), and a description of the en-3
forcement actions the State educational agency 4
took to ensure parents’ rights were protected. 5
‘‘(C) S
ECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 6
after the date of enactment of the Parents Bill 7
of Rights Act, and annually thereafter, the Sec-8
retary shall submit to the Committee on Edu-9
cation and the Workforce of the House of Rep-10
resentatives and the Committee on Health, 11
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen-12
ate— 13
‘‘(i) the reports received under sub-14
paragraph (B); and 15
‘‘(ii) a description of the enforcement 16
actions taken by the Secretary under this 17
subsection and section 444(f) to ensure full 18
compliance with this section and section 19
444, respectively.’’. 20 36
•HR 5 EH
TITLE III—PROHIBITION ON 1
FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT IN 2
CURRICULUM 3
SEC. 301. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 4
Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize 5
any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United 6
States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control 7
over the curriculum, program of instruction, administra-8
tion, or personnel of any educational institution, school, 9
or school system. 10
TITLE IV—GENDER MARKERS, 11
PRONOUNS, AND PREFERRED 12
NAMES ON SCHOOL FORMS 13
SEC. 401. REQUIREMENT RELATED TO GENDER MARKERS, 14
PRONOUNS, AND PREFERRED NAMES ON 15
SCHOOL FORMS. 16
As a condition of receiving Federal funds from the 17
Department of Education, any elementary school (as such 18
term is defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 19
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)) or 20
school that consists of only middle grades (as such term 21
is defined in such section), that receives such Federal 22
funds shall be required to obtain parental consent be-23
fore— 24 37
•HR 5 EH
(1) changing a minor child’s gender markers, 1
pronouns, or preferred name on any school form; or 2
(2) allowing a child to change the child’s sex- 3
based accommodations, including locker rooms or 4
bathrooms. 5
TITLE V—ACCESS TO SCHOOL 6
BROADBAND 7
SEC. 501. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 8
It is the sense of Congress that all public elementary 9
and public secondary school (including public secondary 10
career and technical education school) students should 11
have access to broadband. 12
TITLE VI—SENSE OF CONGRESS 13
SEC. 601. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 14
It is the sense of Congress that all public elementary 15
school and secondary school (including public secondary 16
career and technical education school) students should 17
have opportunities to learn the history of the Holocaust 18
and anti-Semitism. 19
TITLE VII—GAO REPORT 20
SEC. 701. GAO REPORT. 21
Not later than one year after the date of enactment 22
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 23
shall submit to the Committee on Education and the 24
Workforce and the Committee on Appropriations of the 25 38
•HR 5 EH
House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, 1
Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on 2
Appropriations of the Senate a report that evaluates and 3
analyzes the impact of this Act, and the amendments 4
made by this Act, on— 5
(1) protecting parents’ rights in the education 6
of their children; and 7
(2) costs to State educational agencies, local 8
educational agencies, elementary schools, and sec-9
ondary schools (as such terms are defined in section 10
8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 11
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)). 12
TITLE VIII—RULE OF CON-13
STRUCTION ON STUDENT AC-14
CESS TO BOOKS AND OTHER 15
READING MATERIALS 16
SEC. 801. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION ON STUDENT ACCESS 17
TO BOOKS AND OTHER READING MATERIALS. 18
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 19
Act, shall be construed as authorizing or granting parents 20
the right or ability to deny any student who is not their 21
child from accessing any books or other reading materials 22
that are otherwise available in the library of their child’s 23
school. 24 39
•HR 5 EH
TITLE IX—INAPPLICABILITY TO 1
NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2
SEC. 901. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 3
Nothing in this Act may be construed to impose any 4
requirements on non-public elementary or secondary 5
schools. 6
SEC. 902. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7
It is the sense of Congress that local educational 8
agencies do not have the authority to exercise any direc-9
tion, supervision, or control over the curriculum or pro-10
gram of instruction of non-public elementary or secondary 11
schools. 12
Passed the House of Representatives March 24,
2023.
Attest:
Clerk. 118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 5
AN ACT
To ensure the rights of parents are honored and
protected in the Nation’s public schools.