By DAVID BOYLE

Since my last article, hundreds more Alaskans have testified in writing to the House Education Committee on HB 105, Parents Rights in Education. The majority of the 254 new testifiers supported the bill, which was authored by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in support of parents.

Here is the updated chart showing supporters and opponents of the bill:

*This includes only those teachers who self-identified.

The previous number of template emails increased from 189 to 211.  If one discounts the 211 template emails, then Alaskans strongly support HB 105 by 810 for to 362 opposed.

Here is what HB 105 does:

1. The right of a parent to opt-in their child for sex education, rather than opt-out.

2. The right of a parent to know what is in their child’s school records. The law would prohibit schools keeping two sets of records, one for parents and one for the school.

3. The right of parents to designate the official name for their child.

4. Sex education classes cannot begin until after a child is in 5^th grade.

5. The right of a student to sex-based privacy in restrooms and locker rooms.

Here are some testimonies from those supporting Parents Rights in Education:

• As an educator, I am embarrassed by some of the testimonies of teachers I have heard. As a parent, I am mortified that these educators believe my parental abilities are not adequate to teach my own children values, morals, and character.
• I cannot imagine any teacher, no matter their love for children, could ever know or love my children more than myself and my husband.  It simply isn’t possible.
• To pose that school is more safe than my home is similarly untrue and offensive. I love my children more than you do. Period. Full stop.
• The fact that there are educators, calling to keep parents in the dark and believing they deserve to be the ultimate authority of children, should make every parent look very hard at the seriousness of the rot in our education system in this state.
• I have tremendous concern and fear for my son and his education process.  The system is making a choice to sever the relationship between educator and parent.  I am my son’s mother. No one else.
• I am the one that gets to hear the parents after their sons/daughters have tried to take their lives, after they’ve been coached by teachers and counselors to lie and deceive their own parents and families which tells these vulnerable, impressionable children that their own parents are the enemy.

And here are some testimonies from those opposing Parents Rights in Education:

• Parents have a right to direct the education of their children, but that does not trump the rights of the children themselves.
• You put trans youth in such a vulnerable and dangerous place by forcing them to use locker rooms and restrooms against their gender.  You are increasing the risks of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide.
• Why does it matter if the person using the stall next to you has a penis or a vagina? Can someone explain this to me? It’s like having separate drinking water fountains for blacks and whites during the Jim Crow era.
• Parents may want to limit and control the information that is available to their children, but this is not always in their best interests.
• Many oppose this bill. We know what it’s about. We know that it comes from harmful transphobic and fearful rhetoric that is not based on fact. We know that the agenda behind it does not seek to put children first or their families. We know that this bill intends to pry into the private medical information of students.
• HB 105 would empower bigoted, uninformed parents to litigate against schools and school districts simply for doing what’s best for their students.
• I know personally young trans people who have committed suicide in Juneau in the wake of this wave of politically-motivated and entirely fabricated otherization of trans people.
• This bill is just a thoughtless copy-and-paste job from a lazy administration that seeks to demonize children for its own political gain. Shame on you, shame on the governor, and shame on anyone who actually promotes this kind of garbage in our schools.
• You are intentionally letting parents supersede their own children’s agency and identity in an attempt to provide “parental rights.”
• I oppose HB 105 and the disgusting culture warrior bigotry it represents and enables. And you should too. Shame on any excremental excuse for a human who does.

The bill passed out of the House Education Committee but not after much debate on its merits. Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (Sitka, Unaffiliated) offered a “bill killer” amendment — a Parental Involvement factor — to include a cost factor of 1.005 for increases in administrative and education support personnel in the various districts.

This Parental Involvement factor would be included in the foundation formula, so it multiplies the funding by the state.  It would add more than $6 million to K12 funding.

Rep. Himschoot reasoned that because more parents would be involved in choosing to “opt-in” their children to sex education that it would require more paperwork and increase the schools’ administrative workload significantly. 

She also said the increased funding would also be required to modify locker rooms and bathrooms for the transgender students.  But, as usual, this funding is fungible, and it could be spent on anything by a district.

Rep. Himschoot noted that parents are the key to a child’s education. She said, “They (parents) are number one.”  But she voiced concern that requiring parents to “opt-in” their children to sex education would “put up a barrier” to kids learning some really important information. 

Rep. CJ McCormick (Bethel, Democrat) was much more vocal in his opposition to the bill.  He “staunchly” opposes the passage of Hb 105. He said, “Suicide prevention activists have identified this legislation as a problem and have come before us and told us that in all likelihood this will lead to higher rates of suicide.”

McCormick then said, “This bill strips our state’s young people of the ability to make choices for themselves and define who they are and the ability to live with dignity”. 

These same “young people” aren’t allowed to get tattoos, aren’t old enough to drink alcoholic beverages, cannot drive or vote, but McCormick thinks they should be able to determine what gender they would like to be and should be able to get puberty blockers without parental involvement.

He did not mention the role of parents in raising their children. He seems to support that a child’s gender decision can be made without involving parents.  Ironically, under state law parents are responsible for their kids until they turn 18.  But according to Representative McCormick that should not apply to a child’s gender decisions which would dramatically affect the rest of their life.

Rep. Mike Prax (North Pole, Republican), said, “Parents have a moral responsibility to raise their children. They are a gift from God. They (parents) have a moral responsibility, so they have to have the right, even if they make mistakes.” 

The bill now goes to House Judiciary where it may be heard by 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats. 

Here is a link to the bill and more comments.