华盛顿-众议院共和党人将于周五推进中期竞选承诺，就立法进行投票，让家长在公立学校教授的内容上有更大的发言权，尽管批评者谴责“家长权利”法案是一项负担沉重的提案，会助长极右运动，导致全国各地的书籍禁令、历史课程重写和喧闹的学校董事会会议。
共和党众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡在他担任众议院议长的最初几周内，已经将这项被称为《父母权利法案》的法案列为重中之重。这将是对众议院222名共和党人团结的一次早期考验，他们占微弱多数。
就在众议院共和党人本周从一个坚持他们是统一的务虚会上回来的时候，议员们对该法案提出了许多潜在的修改，给周五的投票增加了一定程度的不确定性。
它表明了众议院采用开放的修正程序——麦卡锡为赢得强硬保守派对其议长职位的支持而做出的让步——有可能使立法陷入不可预测的波折。众议院自由核心小组成员试图为该法案添加修正案，这些修正案相当于一份意义深远的梦想清单:呼吁废除教育部，要求学校报告参加女子体育运动的跨性别运动员，以及支持向私立学校提供公共资金的凭证。
内布拉斯加州共和党众议员唐·培根(Don Bacon)周四晚上说，“其中一些东西会让法案泡汤，”他补充说，“你正在接受一项总体上具有统一性的法案，你正在让它变得更加党派化，这正是我所担心的。”
即使众议院通过了这项立法，它在民主党控制的参议院也没有多少机会，在那里它需要60票才能通过。参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)承诺，在他的会议厅里，它面临着一个“死胡同”，并将其作为证据，证明众议院共和党已经被“强硬的右翼杂志理论家”超越——指的是前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的“让美国再次伟大”口号。
在疫情和种族正义抗议之后，保守派对父母控制公立学校课堂的强烈关注已经从地方学校董事会斗争转移到共和党控制的州议会，现在转移到美国众议院。
伊利诺伊州共和党众议员玛丽·米勒(Mary Miller)周四在众议院辩论中表示，“家长希望学校专注于阅读、写作和数学，而不是政治。”。
美国的公立学校教育长期以来一直引起一些家长——通常是保守派——对孩子所教内容的担忧。历史上,“父母的权利”一词曾被用于关于家庭学校教育、性教育甚至英语以外的语言教学的校园辩论中。
最近，共和党人利用了对远程学习和学校面具要求的失望，以及社会保守派对某些被广泛称为“关键种族理论”的种族教学的反对。弗吉尼亚州州长、共和党人格伦·扬金获胜选举2021年，在“父母很重要”的口号下，其他政治行动委员会在全国范围内投入了数百万美元用于学校董事会竞选。
麦卡锡在中期选举中向选民推销“父母权利法案”，让共和党人在众议院占多数。但共和党对大获全胜的期望从未实现，甚至在学校董事会选举中，保守团体选举数百名“家长权利”活动家的目标也没有实现。
但是麦卡锡坚持将该法案作为优先事项，在本月早些时候的一次活动中向公众发出呼吁，该活动的特点是黑板，学生和家长一直站在这项事业的第一线。
麦卡锡选择了该法案的编号H.R. 5，因为儿童在五岁时进入幼儿园，该立法建立在五个支柱上:父母有权检查课程和学校图书馆的书籍，每学年至少与教育工作者会面两次，审查学校预算和支出，被告知孩子学校的暴力事件，以及让小学和中学同意改变孩子的性别称谓、代词或名字。
麦卡锡在介绍会上说:“这关系到每一位父母，妈妈和爸爸，但最重要的是关系到美国的学生。”。
俄勒冈州众议员苏珊娜·博纳米西(Suzanne Bonamici)等民主党人将该法案称为“政治凌驾于父母法案之上”，认为它将在父母和教育工作者之间播下敌意的种子，并让那些想要剔除深入探讨种族和性教育的书籍的保守派活动人士获得权力。Bonamici提出了替代立法，她认为这将促进家长的参与，鼓励与教育工作者的合作，并使学校欢迎家庭，包括有LGBTQ学生的学校。
“我们希望家长和平地参与进来，”Bonamici说。
民主党人也提出警告，该法案将迫使学校将LGBTQ学生交给他们的家人，这有时会导致虐待或遗弃。
“我们将反对这项立法。众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯(Hakeem Jeffries)说:“我们将反对禁书，反对欺凌任何社区的儿童，当然也包括LGBTQ+社区的儿童。
根据该组织本周发布的一份新报告，自美国图书馆协会20年前开始保存数据以来，学校和公共图书馆的图书禁令和限制在2022年飙升至最高水平。
该法案的支持者将其描述为常识性的立法，通过鼓励父母对他们的孩子在学校学习的内容有更大的投入来为学童创造机会。他们还坚持说，它不禁止任何书籍，尽管保守派活动人士利用州立法机构的类似立法，向学校董事会施压，要求他们删除教授该国种族主义历史或LGBTQ性行为的书籍。
共和党众议员弗吉尼亚·福克斯说:“我们的法案旨在赋予父母参与子女教育的天赋权利。”
GOP sets vote on 'parents rights' in clash over schools
WASHINGTON --House Republicans will press forward Friday with a midterm campaign promise by voting on legislation to give parents greater say in what is taught in public schools, even as critics decry the “parents' rights” bill as a burdensome proposal that would fuel a far-right movement that has resulted in book bans, rewrites of history curricula and raucous school board meetings across the country.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made the bill — labeled the Parents' Bill of Rights Act — a top priority during the early weeks of his tenure atop the House. It will be an early test of unity for the chamber's 222 Republicans, who have a thin majority.
Even as House Republicans returned this week from a retreat where they insisted they are unified, lawmakers have proposed a score of potential changes to the bill, adding a degree of uncertainty to Friday's vote.
It showed how the adoption of an open amendment process in the House — a concession McCarthy made to win hardline conservatives' support for his speakership — holds the potential to send legislation down unpredictable twists and turns. House Freedom Caucus members attempted to add amendments to the bill that amounted to a far-reaching dream list: a call to abolish the Department of Education, a requirement that schools report transgender athletes who participate in women’s sports and an endorsement of vouchers that would send public funds to private schools.
“Some of this stuff will sink the bill," said Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska on Thursday evening, adding, “You’re taking a bill that is generally unifying and you’re making it more partisan than it needed to be and that’s what I worry about."
Even if the House passes the legislation, it has little chance in the Democratic-held Senate, where it would need 60 votes to pass. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised it faced a “dead end” in his chamber and skewered it as evidence that the House GOP has been overtaken by “hard right MAGA ideologues” — referencing former President Donald Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan.
In the wake of the pandemic and racial justice protests, conservatives’ intense focus on parental control over public school classrooms has migrated from local school board fights to Republican-held statehouses and now to the floor of the U.S. House.
“Parents want schools focused on reading, writing and math, not woke politics,” Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, said during House debate Thursday.
Public school education in the U.S. has long invited concern among some parents — usually conservative — over what children are taught. Historically, the term “parents' rights” has been used in schoolhouse debates over homeschooling, sex education and even the teaching of languages other than English.
Recently, Republicans have tapped into frustrations over remote learning and mask mandates in schools, as well as social conservatives' opposition to certain teachings on race that are broadly labeled as “critical race theory.” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, wonelectionin 2021 on the slogan “Parents matter," and other political action committees poured millions of dollars into school board races nationwide.
McCarthy made the “parents' bill of rights” a plank in his midterm election pitch to voters to give Republicans a House majority. But the GOP's expectation of a sweeping victory never materialized, and even in school board races, conservative groups' goal of electing hundreds of “parents’ rights” activists largely fell short.
But McCarthy pressed ahead with the bill as a priority, making a public appeal earlier this month at an event that featured a chalkboard, schoolchildren and parents who have been on the frontlines of the cause.
McCarthy chose the bill's number, H.R. 5, because children enter kindergarten at age five, and the legislation is built on five pillars: parents' right to examine curricula and school library books, meet with educators at least twice each school year, review school budgets and spending, be notified of violent events in their child’s school and have elementary and middle schools to get their consent to change a child's gender designation, pronouns or name.
"It’s about every parent, mom and dad, but most importantly about the students in America,” McCarthy said at the introduction event.
Democrats like Oregon's Rep. Suzanne Bonamici labeled the bill as the “Politics over Parents Act," arguing it would seed enmity between parents and educators and empower conservative activists who want to weed out books that delve into teachings on race and sexuality. Bonamici offered alternative legislation that she argued would foster parental involvement, encourage collaboration with educators and make schools welcoming places to families, including those with LGBTQ students.
“We want parents to be involved — peacefully,” Bonamici said.
Democrats also raised alarm that the bill as written would force schools to out LGBTQ students to their families, which can sometimes lead to abuse or abandonment.
“We’ll fight against this legislation. We’ll fight against the banning of books, fight against the bullying of children from any community, and certainly from the LGBTQ+ community,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said.
Attempted book bans and restrictions at school and public libraries surged to their highest number in 2022 since the American Library Association began keeping data 20 years ago, according to a new report the organization released this week.
The bill's supporters described it as common-sense legislation to foster opportunities for schoolchildren by encouraging parents to have greater input into what their children learn in school. They also insisted it does not ban any books, even though conservative activists have used similar legislation from state legislatures to press school boards to remove books that teach about the country's racist history or LGBTQ sexuality.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx said, “Our bill is meant to give parents their God-given rights to be involved with their children's education.”
