ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: TALKING IT OVER
To the Editor: YOU WOULD think everyone could agree on adding to the Virginia Constitution this single line: ``The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children shall be a fundamental right.''
Yet this proposal suffers opposition from two fronts: those who say it isn't needed and fearmongers who say it will bankrupt our school systems.
The amendment is a response to recent incidents in which parents were denied their rights and responsibilities for their children. In one case, parents were not allowed access to their child's medical records. In another, Fairfax County parents were refused information about which books their 6-year-old had checked out of the public library. Ironically, the same entities that refused parents' requests for information do expect medical bills and overdue fines to be paid by the parents. And don't forget the legislature has yet to enact a solid parental-consent law for abortions, although a majority of Virginians desire one.
These are just a few examples where parents' rights and responsibilities were, and are, circumvented. They indicate a genuine need for the parental-rights amendment.
Special-interest groups want to scare you. One such group, People For the American Way, suggests ``parental rights'' is a smoke screen by the ``religious right'' to sneak oppressive religious indoctrination into our schools. Now, be careful how you define ``religious right.'' If you don't want your child receiving condoms from school or if you don't think the homosexual lifestyle is acceptable, you are labeled ``religious right'' by People For the American Way.
Bankrupting the schools? The critics contend that parents (under secret direction of the ``religious right'') will challenge school programs until there are as many curricula as there are students. More likely, the amendment would simply allow parents a greater role in requesting that their children be allowed to opt out of activities or assignments that are of a particular concern. This is what People For the American Way is afraid of: Its agenda could not be spoon-fed to students without their parents' approval.
The amendment puts responsibility for children where it belongs: with parents. Anyone opposed to that is promoting elitism or dictatorship.
- Ben Poe
Our Reply: WITHOUT knowing the details, we can't comment on the cited examples of parents being denied information about their children. Doubtless there are many cases where bureaucratic excesses infringe on parents' rights, but we disagree that an amendment to the Virginia Constitution is the necessary remedy.
The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children already is included in federal constitutional law, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Every public-school division in Virginia recognizes parents' right to have their children ``opt out'' from certain school activities and assignments. Parents, for instance, can veto their children's participation in sex-education classes. And if they object to virtually everything being taught, they have the right to opt for private education or home schooling.
Parents who want to fight for curriculum changes can do so now, before school boards and during local elections. They simply have to persuade others to agree with them.
Not only is this amendment not needed. There are grounds to worry about its practical effects (even leaving aside the potential impact on enforcement of child-abuse laws).
Our guess is that fears about "bankrupting" public education stem less from the prospect of curriculum challenges and constant litigation than from the hope, embraced by many of the amendment's supporters, that it would lead to a voucher system in which taxpayer funds would be diverted to private, religious schools.
-The editors
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB