Today, First Focus Campaign for Children sent the following vote scorecard for H.R. 5 and related amendments to all members of the House of Representatives urging a NO vote on the bill.
Excerpt from the letter
As currently drafted, we urge a NO vote on H.R. 5. Although we believe that parental engagement and involvement in education is critical to the success of children, this legislation fails children in a number of ways by:
- failing to recognize that children have a right and role to play in education;
- creating significant new bureaucracy, red tape, and reporting requirements for every single public school in this country that results in funding, time, attention, and services being diverted away from educating and serving children in every single public school across this country1;
- promoting and facilitating book bans and censorship rather than greater access to books, reading, and learning;
- threatening access to health care, privacy, and confidentiality of students;
- promoting division and animosity between parents and educators in the education of children rather than helping facilitate partnerships and greater civility between parents and educators; and,
- urging the reporting of “violence” in schools after the fact rather than the protection and prevention of violence to students, teachers, other educators, and school board members.