II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3218 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide 

for a Parents’ Bill of Rights. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2021 

Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to provide for a Parents’ Bill of Rights. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Parents’ Bill of Rights 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PARENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 2 of part F of title VIII 

8 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

9 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 8549D. PARENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No State, its agents, its subdivi3 sions, or the agents of its subdivisions shall deny to the 

4 parent or guardian of a minor child any or all of the fol5 lowing rights: 

6 ‘‘(1) The right to fully review, in physical or 

7 digital optical character recognition format, and 

8 make copies of, the curricula, books, and other edu9 cational materials used by the school attended by 

10 their minor child or local educational agency that 

11 serves such school. This right shall be understood 

12 to— 

13 ‘‘(A) include a right to affirmative disclo14 sure of class syllabi and reading lists to the 

15 parent or guardian of a minor child by the 

16 school attended by their minor child or local 

17 educational agency that serves such school; and 

18 ‘‘(B) prohibit a requirement that an indi19 vidual sign a nondisclosure agreement as a con20 dition to viewing or otherwise accessing cur21 ricular materials. 

22 ‘‘(2) The right to access information on the 

23 teachers, guest lecturers, and outside presenters who 

24 engage with students at the school attended by their 

25 minor child. This right shall be understood to pro26 hibit schools from permitting or requiring the atVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Nov 18, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3218.IS S3218

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1 tendance of minor children at school assemblies, 

2 field trips, and other extracurricular activities, ab3 sent affirmative consent from their parent or guard4 ian. 

5 ‘‘(3) The right to access information on all 

6 third-party individuals and organizations that re7 ceive contracts or other funding through the school 

8 attended by their minor child or the local edu9 cational agency that serves such school. 

10 ‘‘(4) The right to visit their minor child at 

11 school during school hours. 

12 ‘‘(5) The right to access all records generated 

13 by the school attended by their minor child or the 

14 local educational agency that serves such school that 

15 concerns their minor child. 

16 ‘‘(6) The right to access information pertaining 

17 to the collection and transmission of data regarding 

18 their minor child by the school attended by their 

19 minor child or the local educational agency that 

20 serves such school. This right shall be understood 

21 to— 

22 ‘‘(A) include a right to access information 

23 on any outside entity, including an accreditor, 

24 marketing consultancy, or third-party clearingVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:40 Nov 18, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3218.IS S3218

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1 house, to which student data, whether 

2 anonymized or not, is transferred; 

3 ‘‘(B) prohibit the collection, by the school 

4 attended by their minor child or the local edu5 cational agency that serves such school, of any 

6 biometric data or other sensitive personal infor7 mation from the minor child, absent affirmative 

8 consent by a parent or guardian of the minor 

9 child; and 

10 ‘‘(C) require that schools and local edu11 cational agencies serving such schools make 

12 available processes by which the parent or 

13 guardian of a minor child can object in writing 

14 to, and deny consent to, the use of 

15 videographic, photographic, or audio depictions 

16 of their minor child by the school or local edu17 cational agency serving such school. 

18 ‘‘(7) The right to be heard at school board 

19 meetings or other governance hearings pertaining to 

20 the school attended by their minor child or the local 

21 educational agency that serves such school. This 

22 right shall be understood to require that school 

23 board meetings or other governance hearings per24 taining to curricula, safety, and other student issues 


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1 be conducted publicly and allow for public com2 ments. 

3 ‘‘(8) The right to be notified of situations af4 fecting the safety of their minor child at school. This 

5 right shall be understood to require, but is not lim6 ited to requiring, that schools notify parents or 

7 guardians in a timely manner of any or all of the 

8 following incidents: 

9 ‘‘(A) Physical assaults occurring in or 

10 around the school. 

11 ‘‘(B) Sexual assaults occurring in or 

12 around the school. 

13 ‘‘(C) Appearances of weapons in or around 

14 the school. 

15 ‘‘(D) Drug use or possession in or around 

16 the school. 

17 ‘‘(E) Police investigations in or around the 

18 school. 

19 ‘‘(F) Crimes, including misdemeanors, 

20 committed by teachers or other school or local 

21 educational agency employees, whether such of22 fenses were committed on or off the campus of 

23 a school. 

24 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CIVIL ACTION.—Any person who is denied 

2 one or more of the rights identified in subsection (a) 

3 may bring a civil action in any court of competent 

4 jurisdiction for injunctive relief. 

5 ‘‘(2) STATE ENFORCEMENT.—In any case in 

6 which the attorney general of a State has reason to 

7 believe that an interest of the residents of that State 

8 has been or is threatened or adversely affected by 

9 the engagement of any entity in an act or practice 

10 denying one or more of the rights identified in sub11 section (a), the State, as parens patriae, may bring 

12 a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State 

13 in a district court of the United States or a State 

14 court of appropriate jurisdiction to obtain injunctive 

15 relief. 

16 ‘‘(3) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS FOR PER17 SISTENT VIOLATIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State is not in 

19 compliance, as described in subparagraph (B), 

20 for a fiscal year the Secretary shall withhold 

21 from the State 50 percent of the total amount 

22 required to be apportioned to the State or any 

23 subdivision of the State under this Act on the 

24 first day of the following fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(B) NONCOMPLIANCE.—A State shall be 

2 deemed noncompliant for a fiscal year for pur3 poses of this paragraph if, within the 5-year pe4 riod before the date of the determination, there 

5 was not less than 3 final judgments (that were 

6 not reversed on appeal) in separate suits for in7 junctive relief filed pursuant to paragraph (1) 

8 or (2), or both, in which the plaintiffs prevailed 

9 against the State, its agents, its subdivisions, or 

10 the agents of its subdivisions, and in which the 

11 court granted injunctive relief.’’. 

12 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

13 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

14 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

15 to section 8549C the following: 

‘‘Sec. 8549D. Parents’ Bill of Rights.’’. 

Æ 


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