On Friday, April 29, Governor Doug Ducey signed legislation that expands the rights of parents and allows them more influence into their children’s education. The legislation, HB 2161, allows parents to sue school districts and school officials if they believe that an employee or district is “interfering with or usurping a parent’s fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of their children.”

The first provision of the measure prohibits any public school employee from withholding information relevant to the physical, emotional, or mental health of a student from their parents. However, employees are allowed to keep information undisclosed if it is subject to report pursuant to the duty to report abuse statute.

Teachers and counselors are required to tell a student’s parents anything the child discloses in confidence unless it involves abuse. The law also requires schools to allow parents access to all educational records and to counselor notes regarding their children, and parents must receive any survey to be given to kids at least seven days before administering the survey.

As written, the law allows a parent to raise a violation of statutory parental rights as a claim or defense. Once a lawsuit is filed, the burden of proof is then on the public entity. If the governmental agency or employee is unsuccessful in demonstrating the burden of proof, then the parent(s) will receive appropriate relief.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Steve Kaiser and passed in party-line votes. Cathi Herrod, director of the social conservative group Center for Arizona Policy, was quoted in an Associated Press article saying, “the new law will protect children from activist school officials and foster healthy family relationships.”

Opponents of the measure claimed it would hamper students from trusting in adults. One comment from Sen. Christine Marsh from a recent Senate debate also made its way into that same AP article.

“Once they realize anything they tell a counselor or a teacher is going to go to their parents, some of them, potentially a lot of them, will just simply stop talking,” Sen. Marsh said. “They are no longer going to have that trusted adult to confide in.”

When asked how Fountain Hills Unified School District would adapt to new legislation, interim Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney stated, “we will do what we need to do to comply with all state laws.”