Missouri Senate debates Parents’ Bill of Rights

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri senators spent hours debating the legislation known as the "Parents' Bill of Rights" Wednesday afternoon.

Senate Bill 4 was scheduled for an initial vote in the Missouri Senate on Wednesday afternoon. The bill, introduced by Sen. Andrew Koenig (R-St. Louis), aims to give parents more control over their child's education. The Senate stopped the debate at about 5:30 p.m. without a vote on the bill.

The bill has the strong support of the Republican senators.

Sen. Bill Eigel (R-St. Charles) said the bill if passed would help foster communication between parents and schools and better educational outcomes.

When a similar bill was brought to a committee last year, it broke the record for the most testimony in a House committee.

Todd Fuller with the Missouri State Teachers Association said many educators see the legislation as unnecessary.

"Transparency is already there for teachers and for parents if they want to find out more about curriculum from their teachers," Fuller said.

During a lobbying day Tuesday, Missouri State Teachers Association representatives said they don't like the bill as written, specifically because of a part that requires school districts to post curriculum for approval two months ahead of "implementation."

"The problem with the Parents' Bill of Rights as it drafted now is every school district must submit its curriculum, we're not sure what 'the curriculum' actually means," said Mike Woods with MSTA.

The bill includes:

• Creation and use of an online transparency and accountability portal
• No teaching of controversial topics such as Critical Race Theory or anything that could be taken as forcing beliefs on children
• Requiring "Patriotic and Civics" training for teachers

Check back for updates to this developing story.