State Board of Education leaders take issue with parts of ‘Parents’ Rights Bill’

State Board of Education (SBE) leaders are concerned that the Parents’ Bill of Rights legislation vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper doesn’t give the state board authority to enforce the recommendations of a hearing officer in disputes between parents and public schools.

SBE Chairman Eric Davis and SBE vice Chairman Alan Duncan penned a letter to lawmakers to take issue with a provision in Senate Bill 49 that requires the state board to  appoint an attorney to serve as a hearing officer in such disputes

The appointed attorney would determine facts in the dispute and make a recommendation to the state board, which would approve or reject the attorney’s ruling. The bill doesn’t spell out what enforcement authority the state board would have to enforce those rulings.

“A parental concern hearing process, without authority to enforce the decision made, will likely be a frustrating exercise in futility for all involved as well as a significant expenditure of resources without likelihood of an acceptable resolution,” Davis and Duncan wrote.

To make the process meaningful, lawmakers would undermine the state’s traditional approach that favors local control over such matters, the two wrote.

The state board is also concerned that SB 49 requires school districts to pay hearing officers but does not provide money to do so or the state board with remedies if districts refuse to pay an officer’s fee.

“We ask that you consider a different and more effective process for resolving the parental concerns that may arise from this new law. In order to provide parents with an effective appeals process, the hearing needs to be at the PSU (district or charter school) level,” Davis and Duncan said. “This will allow the district boards of education and charter school boards that are the subject of parental concerns, to deal with those concerns directly and have the parties work on fashioning effective remedies.”

SB 49 is one of handful of controversial Republican-backed education bills that Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed or is expected to veto this session. Democrats and state progressive organizations have been critical of the legislation, contending it will harm to LGBTQ students.

The bill requires educators to notify parents if a student uses a different name or pronoun. It also requires school officials to notify parents about their child’s mental and physical health, obtain written consent from parents before a minor child receives medical treatment.

In his veto of SB 49, Cooper said the legislation would “scare teachers into silence by injecting fear and uncertainty into classrooms.”

“This “Don’t Say Gay” bill also hampers the important and sometimes lifesaving role of educators as trusted advisers when students have nowhere else to turn,” Cooper said. “The rights of parents are well established in state law, so instead of burdening schools with their political culture wars, legislators should help them with better teacher pay and more investments in students.”