Kerby Anderson

Are school children the wards of the state or the responsibility of the parents? This should not be a difficult question, but apparently many school administrators have a different answer. I had Lathan Watts, VP for Alliance Defending Freedom, on my radio program to talk about his article, “School Districts Are Keeping Parents in the Dark over Social Transitioning.”

One of his colleagues was recently testifying to this issue before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. He documented that over 1,000 school districts (attended by over 12 million students) have secret-transition policies that direct school officials to hide information about children from parents.

These policies violate not only biblical principles about a parent’s responsibility for their children but established constitutional principles. These policies (either written or merely promoted verbally) violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

Of course, they also violate common sense. Lathan Watts reminded us “that schools must get parental consent to administer aspirin, take students on a field trip, and allow them to participate in extracurricular activities, yet parents are kept in the dark on social transitioning.”

At the hearing, Democrats accused Republicans on the committee of pushing a “false narrative.” Lathan Watts explained that this is political-speak for “your witnesses are liars.” But there is an actual court case that documented this, and ironically these charges came the same day the Second Circuit Court of Appeals was hearing oral arguments about another secret-social-transition case.

It’s time for voters to make their voice heard about parental rights in the next election.