Bill sponsors seek to amend Parental Bill of Rights to exclude private schools and approved voucher providers

February 9th, 2025

Senators Victoria Sullvian (R-Mancehster) and Daryl Abbas (R-Salem), sponsors of Senate Bill (SB) 72 establishing a “parental bill of rights in education,” said in a public hearing that they will have to amend the bill to exclude private schools and organizations that are approved to receive public funds under the state’s school voucher law, known as Education Freedom Accounts or EFAs. 

“Any funding that the private school may get… whether it’s a federal grant or state grant… it would then invoke this,” Senator Abbas said during the public hearing. 

“You don’t want them either declining an EFA student or not taking advantage of grant money simply because they don’t want this to apply, and that’s not the intent.” 

The bill states that all parental rights are given to parents “without obstruction or interference from any school or school personnel.” The rights include:

• Notification of whenever restraint or seclusion has been used on a child

• Exemption from immunizations

• Notification of school discipline policies

• Information on qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers and paraprofessionals providing services to the child

• The right to receive information, including student reports, in an understandable way that parents can understand 

Most of the elements in SB 72 already exist in law for public schools, but the sponsors said that they wanted them codified in one place for ease of understanding. The current version of the law would extend these rights to parents of students who attend private schools that accept public funds (like federal and state grants or school voucher funds) and companies and organizations who are approved to receive school voucher funds under the state’s Education Freedom Account law. 

The committee did not vote on a recommendation for the bill. After their vote, the bill would go to the full Senate for a vote. Watch the discussion on the bill here: https://www.youtube.com/live/o1JixQduMKE?si=aZXfI9DlMKkGfaqa&t=5848