Thread by @JeffreyASachs

Just for clarification purposes, here in broad strokes are the different elements of those "school transparency" bills out there right now. I'll organize them according to my own sense of how extreme they are, with some accompanying examples.

1. Purely symbolic.

An enumeration of existing parental rights. Minimal impact.

legiscan.com/MO/text/HB1858…

2. Purely symbolic, but this time we mean it.

An enumeration of existing parental rights, but with more elaborate language and the potential for greater administrative burdens on schools. Minimal impact.

legiscan.com/MO/text/HB2195…

3. Searchable Website, Parental Edition

A searchable website that lists the titles/authors of all materials to be assigned to students in a given course. I don't have an example handy, but there are a few out there right now. Minimal impact.

4. Searchable Website, Public Edition

The same, but this time the website is accessible by anyone, even if they have no connection to the school. Moderate impact because you know activists are going to abuse it.

ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/…

5. Searchable Website But With Content

Same as above, but this time the school must place on the website digital copies of all materials, excepting those where copyright is an issue. Significant impact because of administrative burden.

legiscan.com/FL/text/H1467/…

6. The Opt-Outs

Imagine a searchable website with all course material. Parents have the right to opt their students out of any assignment and teachers have the obligation to provide alternatives. Here's a relatively tame example.

legiscan.com/MS/text/SB2679…

There are a lot of bills like this. I don't have it handy, but I swear one of them specified the exact layout of the website, where each assignment had a little box you could check for "Yes I want my kid to get this" or "No I don't."

Huge impact, obviously.

Sorry, had to do something. Anyway, I found an example of the above.

legiscan.com/IN/text/SB0167…

7. The Crazies.

These are the ones that are just off their rockers. Flat out madness. I actually have something coming out next week that will discuss them a bit, so check back then. But yeah, some are just total insanity.

There are some other provisions I'm not discussing here. Prohibitions on social emotional learning, restrictions around surveys, new rules about NDAs and records requests, that sort of thing. Lots of stuff too that's specific to instruction in gender and sexuality.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the penalties. Some have none, but most include stiff penalties (monetary fines, professional discipline, that sort of thing) for schools or teachers that violate the law.

Other stuff too, but this list gets at the meat of it. It's not hard to see the dynamics here: Transparency=good, but depending on design, the administrative burdens could be enormous. And the potential for unfair exploitation by activists is obvious.

We'll see what happens.