VETO Progressive Takeover of Public Schools!
We are urging the Governor to VETO HB 625 (D-Rasoul) and SB 608 (D-Aird), which are aimed at expanding the scope of public schools to include health services, counseling, mental health assessments, and other non-educational functions.
HB 625 and SB 608 would set up a new office within the Department of Education and add more state bureaucracy to coordinate “communities in schools.” These bills would turn public schools into a one-stop hub for every perceived social and health need like counseling, vaccinations, and sex-ed curriculum, without the usual guardrails for parental notification and consent. These bills would initiate the process of expanding the education system far beyond its mission.
In addition, we are urging the Governor to AMEND HB 1504 (D-Seibold) and SB 498 (D-Carroll Foy)
to add back critical language that was removed when the bills went to a conference committee. The latest version of these bills would only require the Board of Education to establish “guidelines” for notifying parents about school-connected overdoses, with no specific details. It is vital that the following parental notification provisions are added back to these bills to ensure they are incorporated into any school policies:
Require each division superintendent to notify the parent of each student in the local school division of any school-connected drug overdose within 24 hours.
Require that such notification include as much information as is known about the circumstances surrounding the overdose, to the extent that the disclosure doesn’t reveal a minor's personal, confidential, or sensitive information.
The Governor technically has until 11:59 pm on Monday, April 8, 2024, to act on any bills passed by the General Assembly, but he could act on bills at any time between now and then, which he has already begun to do.
