Kendall County Times

Rep. Keith Wheeler introduced House Bill 5239, which would give parents more rights in their children's education.

Wheeler said he introduced legislation that would give parents more access to transparency regarding school curriculum, and they would be able to request to review course material whenever they want.

"Parents collaborating with teachers in their child's education gives that child the best opportunity to thrive in the classroom. That's one of the reasons I introduced House Bill 5239 this year, a bill that says school boards should adopt a policy to ensure parents have the ability to review curriculum and course materials with teachers any time the parent so requests. This common sense approach would help parents and teachers support each other to ensure each student receives the first-class education they deserve," Wheeler said in a Facebook post.

Republicans across the country have been advocating for more parental rights in education, leading to the proposal of various bills that would add more transparency to curriculums and give parents more educational decision-making powers, Future Ed reported. In 2022 alone, legislators in 26 states have introduced some form of parental rights bill. So far, states like Georgia, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana have signed parental rights bills into law, and Kansas is expected to follow suit soon.

Many of the parental rights bills are a result of schools teaching critical race theory (CRT) and divisive racial concepts, according to Future Ed. Indiana's HB 1134, which advanced in the House, would prohibit schools from teaching racially divisive concepts. The same bill would also require schools to post curriculum online. Louisiana's HB 414, which has been introduced as an expansion of the Parents' Bill of Rights, would stop schools from teaching children that "they are currently or destined to be oppressed or be oppressors based on the child's race or national origin."

Britannica defines critical race theory as an intellectual framework and social movement based on the idea that race is not biological, but socially constructed. According to CRT, race was constructed in order to oppress and exploit non-white people. Critical race theorists believe that the law in the United States is inherently racist and was designed to create and maintain white supremacy. CRT's roots are in critical legal studies, which taught that legal institutions benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor, and which is an offshoot of Marxist critical theory. CRT rejects the idea of "color blindness" (treating all races equally under the law) as a solution to racism.

Wheeler introduced HB 5239 in January, and it was referred to the Rules Committee in February. It has not advanced out of the House.