Parents Deserve Better

Parents and their children shouldn't be pawns in political games.

Any parent will tell you that we live in a turbulent time. An age of unprecedented struggles. Dangers seem to lurk around every corner. Parents do all that we can to keep our kids safe, but our children also need to grow and learn independence.

It used to be that school was a place where you could trust that your child would be safe. A guiding rail to help children learn what they’re capable of, how to make the best choices, and of course learning from their mistakes. All without our watchful parental eyes. A safe path to adulthood.

School has gone from a safe place to one of concern. What is happening in your child’s school? Has there been any violence or threats? Are the sports programs safe? What is the school even teaching and having them read?

These are all things we should have a right as parents to know in order to give us peace of mind. And this is what Republicans say their Parental Bill of Rights is all about.

Their bill does require schools to put the following information on a public website:

• Curriculum

• Books in classrooms and libraries

• Academic standards

• School’s budget

All great things, but parents can already get all of this information from our child’s school. Yes, this would make it easier and standardize the information which is a positive, but it doesn’t open up new information.

Democrats had concerns over the language around listing out all of the library books in light of the recent book bans happening in some Republican run states. Democrats attempted multiple versions of an amendment around preventing censorship and Republicans voted no each time.

If your bill isn’t about opening the door for book bans all across the country, then you wouldn’t have an issue making sure the language was clear in preventing that.

In case you think blocking those amendments might have been due to wanting to keep amendments off of the bill in general. Here are the amendments they did approve, which were put forward by Lauren Boebert(R):

• Parents must be informed if the school allows transgendered students to participate in sports that don’t match their gender given at birth.

• Parents must be informed if the school allows a transgendered student to use bathrooms that don’t match their gender given at birth.

The agenda of this bill is now a lot clearer. It isn’t about making sure dangers are removed from schools, it is about bringing the Republican culture war to the schools. This wasn’t just a rogue play by Boebert, she was adding more specificity.

There were already rules in the bill along those lines:

• Parents must be informed if a child uses a locker room or bathroom that is a different gender than they were given at birth.

• Parents must be notified if the school changes the child’s preferred name or pronoun in the classroom 

The Republican narrative for that last point, the child’s preferred name or pronoun, is that it makes sure that a child doesn’t have a different gender identity forced upon them.

But that isn't happening in school. Instead, this is a type of rule that would out LGBTQ students who are already struggling to be secure with their own self identity. This puts these children at risk of suicide.

It is tragic to see a party focused on bringing a culture war down onto children. And all at a time when parents do need support. We do need to feel that our children are in a good, healthy environment.

Parents need:

• Gun reform to keep our kids safe

• Free school lunches to make sure our children never go hungry

• More school funding and teacher raises to ensure our children are getting the best education

• Public Preschool for all, so all kids can have the same advantages

• Diversity in student body and faculty

• Funding for arts programs to stimulate their creativity, passion, and intellect

• Full textbooks online and publicly available

• Career paths out of high school with living wages

• Affordable higher education

What America doesn’t need is politicians pretending to care and putting out a phony, misleading bill to make it seem like they’re helping. Republicans know the bill won’t get through the Senate, but they spent time on it anyway, all for the cameras and the headlines.

When your elected official uses you and your children’s lives as pawns in a power struggle, you vote them out of office. You don’t find reasons to support them, to ignore their actions, to explain it away. That is a disservice to yourself, your family, and your friends. You deserve politicians that are trying to ensure that you and your family live longer, happier, healthier lives.

Voting for a candidate out of party loyalty, or in the name of the culture war, means you are taking away your own support. You are sending the message that it doesn’t matter if the government works for the people. It doesn't matter as long as they say they’re part of a certain group. Tribe over self.

This is why politicians write sham bills and pass them off as innocent common sense legislating. It is all about fostering the idea that they’re fighting the good fight against the evil doers, even if in reality they’re getting nothing done at all.

Bipartisan improvements to schools should be possible, but only if bad actors stop playing games with every bill that comes before Congress.

Demand more from your politicians and your government. Demand that they work for you.