I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1854

To amend the General Education Act to allow parents access to certain

information about their children.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 15, 2001

Mr. TIAHRT (for himself, Mr. PITTS, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. SMITH of

New Jersey, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr.

BARR of Georgia, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. JONES of North

Carolina, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. GRAHAM, and

Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the General Education Act to allow parents access

to certain information about their children.

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 ‘‘Parental Freedom of

5 Information Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. INFORMATION ACCESS AND CONSENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 444 of the General Edu3 cation Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g) is amended by

4 adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(j) INSTRUCTIONAL AND TESTING MATERIALS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No funds shall be made

7 available under any applicable program to any edu8 cational agency or institution that has a policy of de9 nying, or that effectively prevents, the parent of an

10 elementary school or secondary school student served

11 by such agency or at such institution, as the case

12 may be, the right to inspect and review any instruc13 tional material used with respect to the educational

14 curriculum of, or testing material that has been ad15 ministered to, the student. Each educational agency

16 or institution shall establish appropriate procedures

17 for the granting of a request by parents for access

18 to the instructional material or testing material. The

19 granting of each such request shall be made in a

20 reasonable period of time, but shall not exceed 30

21 days, after the date of the request.

22 ‘‘(2) GRIEVANCE PROCESS.—

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any educational agen24 cy or institution that receives funding under

25 any applicable program shall establish and

26 maintain procedures in accordance with this
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1 paragraph for resolving a dispute under this

2 subsection through mediation or through use of

3 arbitration if the dispute is not resolved

4 through mediation.

5 ‘‘(B) MEDIATION.—

6 ‘‘(i) GOALS OF MEDIATION.—The

7 goals of mediation are a prompt resolution

8 of the dispute in a written agreement be9 tween the parties.

10 ‘‘(ii) MEDIATION PROCESS.—The me11 diation process, at a minimum, shall meet

12 the following requirements:

13 ‘‘(I) Be conducted not later than

14 60 days after a parent’s request for

15 access and review of educational and

16 testing materials is denied.

17 ‘‘(II) Not be used to deny or

18 delay a parent’s rights afforded under

19 this subsection.

20 ‘‘(III) Be conducted by a quali21 fied and impartial mediator who is

22 trained in effective mediation tech23 niques and is chosen by mutual con24 sent of the involved parties.
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1 ‘‘(IV) Be scheduled in a timely

2 manner and be held in a location that

3 is convenient to the parties to the dis4 pute.

5 ‘‘(iii) COSTS OF MEDIATION.—The

6 costs of mediation shall be paid for by the

7 educational agency or institution, as the

8 case may be.

9 ‘‘(C) ARBITRATION.—

10 ‘‘(i) GOAL OF ARBITRATION.—The

11 goal of arbitration is a prompt resolution

12 of the dispute in the event the parties are

13 unable to reach a written agreement

14 through the mediation process.

15 ‘‘(ii) ARBITRATION PROCESS.—The

16 arbitration process, at a minimum, shall

17 meet the following requirements:

18 ‘‘(I) Be conducted not later than

19 60 days after failure to resolve the

20 dispute through mediation.

21 ‘‘(II) Be conducted by an inde22 pendent arbitrator chosen by mutual

23 consent of all parties to the dispute.

24 ‘‘(III) Require the arbitrator to

25 take testimony and order such equi-
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1 table or declaratory relief as appro2 priate.

3 ‘‘(IV) Be scheduled in a timely

4 manner and be held in a location that

5 is convenient to the parties to the dis6 pute.

7 ‘‘(V) Be considered final and

8 binding upon all parties to the dis9 pute.

10 ‘‘(iii) COSTS OF ARBITRATION.—The

11 costs of arbitration shall be shared equally

12 between all parties to the dispute.

13 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection:

14 ‘‘(A) INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL.—The

15 term ‘instructional material’ means a textbook,

16 audio/visual material, informational material ac17 cessible through Internet sites, material in dig18 ital or electronic formats, instructional manual,

19 or journal, or any other material supplementary

20 to the educational curriculum of a student.

21 ‘‘(B) TESTING MATERIAL.—The term ‘test22 ing material’ means any test (without re23 sponses) after the test is administered to a stu24 dent during the current school year, and if

25 available, any statistical comparison data re-
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1 garding the test results with respect to the stu2 dent’s age or grade level. The term does not in3 clude a test subject to a copyright or licensing

4 agreement.

5 ‘‘(k) PARENTAL CONSENT.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), no funds shall be made available under

8 any applicable program to an educational agency or

9 institution that, without the prior, written, informed

10 consent of the parent of a student requires the stu11 dent to undergo medical, psychological, or psy12 chiatric examination, testing, treatment, or immuni13 zation (except in the case of a medical emergency).

14 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not

15 apply to directory information as defined in sub16 section (a)(5)(A) or to medical, psychological, or

17 psychiatric examinations, testing, treatment, or im18 munizations of students expressly permitted by State

19 law without written parental consent.

20 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in

21 paragraph (1) shall be construed as superseding or

22 otherwise affecting informed parental consent re23 quirements under the Individuals with Disabilities

24 Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.).
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1 ‘‘(4) RESTRICTION ON SEEKING INFORMATION

2 FROM MINORS.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of Federal law, in conducting a program or ac4 tivity funded in whole or in part by the Federal Gov5 ernment a person may not, without the consent of

6 at least 1 parent or guardian of a minor or, in the

7 case of an emancipated minor, the prior consent of

8 the minor, require or otherwise seek the response of

9 the minor to a survey or questionnaire whether writ10 ten or oral which elicits information concerning any

11 of the following:

12 ‘‘(i) Parental political affiliations or

13 beliefs.

14 ‘‘(ii) Mental or psychological prob15 lems.

16 ‘‘(iii) Sexual behavior or attitudes.

17 ‘‘(iv) Illegal, antisocial, or self-incrimi18 nating behavior.

19 ‘‘(v) Appraisals of other individuals

20 with whom the minor has a familial rela21 tionship.

22 ‘‘(vi) Relationships that are legally

23 recognized as privileged, including those

24 with lawyers, physicians, and members of

25 the clergy.
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1 ‘‘(vii) Religious affiliations or be2 liefs.’’.

3 (b) RIGHT OF ACCESS.—The third sentence of sec4 tion 444(a)(1)(A) of the General Education Provisions Act

5 (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking

6 ‘‘forty-five’’ and inserting ‘‘30’’.

Æ