Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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                                      HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 9
                        IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
                        THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION
     BY REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON
     Introduced: 1/24/24
     Referred: Education
                                             A RESOLUTION
 Recognizing the rights of parents, teachers, and students in educational settings.
 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
         WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1925 case Pierce v. Society
 of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, that compulsory attendance at a public school violated the
 Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, protecting the right to school
 choice, at parental expense, for almost a century; and
         WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1972 case Wisconsin v.
 Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, that parents have a First Amendment right to freedom of religion with
 regard to educating their children and, therefore, have the right to choose, in a manner
 consistent with their religious beliefs, how to educate their children, including whether or not
 to enroll their children in a traditional public school or a private school and whether to enroll
 their children at all after the eighth grade; and
         WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 2002 case Zelman v.
 Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S. 639, that a state program, very likely unconstitutional in this state,
 that provides school vouchers to students to attend either public or private schools, including
 religious institutions, does not violate the First Amendment if the program is religiously
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 neutral; and
         WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 2020 case Espinoza v.
 Montana Department of Revenue, 140 S.Ct. 2246, that, if a state can distribute public benefits
 to a private school, the state may not exclude a private religious school based solely on its
 religious affiliation, resulting in equal protection for religious and nonreligious private
 schools; and
        WHEREAS, under 20 U.S.C. 1232g, enacted by the Family Educational Rights and
 Privacy Act of 1974, parents are allowed to review and inspect their child's education records,
 and a parent has the right to request correction of any inaccurate or misleading information in
 their child's records; and
        WHEREAS, under 20 U.S.C. 1400 - 1482, reauthorized in 1990 by the Individuals
 with Disabilities Education Act, parents have a right to be fully involved in the special
 education of their child, to seek and review their child's educational records, to give informed
 consent to evaluate their child, and to be a part of the process that decides which special
 education services their child will receive; and
        WHEREAS, under 15 U.S.C. 6501 - 6506, enacted by the Children's Online Privacy
 Protection Act of 1998, operators of websites that collect data from children under 13 years of
 age must obtain "verifiable parental consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal
 information from children"; and
        WHEREAS, under 20 U.S.C. 6318, amended by the 2015 Every Student Succeeds
 Act, school districts receiving federal Title I funds must use a minimum amount of their
 funding to involve parents and family members in the development of local educational
 agency plans; and
        WHEREAS art. VII, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, requires the
 legislature to provide to children of the state a free public education, free from any sectarian
 control; and
        WHEREAS, in 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in Hootch v. Alaska State-
 Operated School System, 536 P.2d 793, that the state is required to fund local schools in
 small, isolated communities of the state instead of requiring students to leave their
 communities to attend boarding schools; and
        WHEREAS, in 1999, an Alaska Superior Court ruled in Kasayulie v. State, No. 3AN-
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 97-3782 CIV, 1999 WL 34793390 (Alaska Sup. Ct. Sept. 1, 1999), that a debt retirement
 program that reimburses cities and boroughs that pass bond packages to pay for school
 maintenance and construction of facilities was discriminatory to rural communities that had
 insufficient tax bases; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.191, enacted in 1970, parental consent is required
 before a student is evaluated for special education placement; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.03.110, enacted in 1979, a school district, principal, or
 other person in charge of a public school may not administer a questionnaire or survey to
 students unless written permission is given by the parents; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.03.115, enacted in 1999, a school district must release
 school records to parents upon request; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.191, as amended in 2001, a school district must provide
 a parent with an opportunity to participate in the determination of placement of their child in a
 special education program; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.33.200, enacted in 2006, school districts are required to
 adopt and share with parents a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, and bullying of
 students; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.745, enacted in 2010, school districts are, under certain
 circumstances, required to provide a student's information to the Alaska Military Youth
 Academy; if the district provides information about a student to the academy, the district is
 also required to notify the student's parent of the disclosure and provide an opportunity to
 object; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.142, enacted in 2011, before a student athlete may
 participate in a sport, a school district is required to provide the student's parent with written
 information about the nature and risk of concussions and receive from the parent a
 verification acknowledging receipt of that information; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.03.310, enacted in 2014, a parent of a student enrolled in a
 correspondence study program may receive an annual student allotment for the cost of
 instructional expenses, including the purchase of certain nonsectarian services and materials
 from a public, private, or religious organization; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.33.120, enacted in 2000, and AS 14.33.125, enacted in
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 2014, a school district is required to make available to parents a written school disciplinary
 and safety program, and any incident involving disruptive or violent behavior by a student
 that results in restraint or seclusion of that student must be reported to the student's parent on
 the day of the incident; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.355 and 14.30.356, enacted in 2015, school districts are
 required to have a procedure allowing a student to be excused, upon request of the student's
 parent, from participating in, and receiving notices about, awareness and prevention programs
 on sexual abuse, sexual assault, and teen dating violence and abuse; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.03.016, enacted in 2016, school districts must adopt
 policies, in consultation with parents, to promote involvement of parents in the school
 district's education program, including allowing a parent to withdraw their child from a
 standards-based assessment or test required by the state for a religious holiday, allowing a
 parent to withdraw their child from an activity, class, or program, and providing two weeks'
 notice to a parent of any activity or program that includes content of human reproduction or
 sexual matters; and
        WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.765, enacted in 2022, school districts are required to
 notify and consult parents of students in kindergarten through third grade with identified
 reading deficiencies and provide at least 10 progress updates each year; and
        WHEREAS, under Anchorage School District Board Policy 1312.2, complaints
 concerning instructional material will have a proper procedure designated by the
 superintendent, and, if the superintendent makes a determination that is unsatisfactory to the
 complainant, the complainant can elevate the complaint to be placed on the agenda of a
 regular school board meeting; and
        WHEREAS, under Anchorage School District Board Policy 6144(a), a parent,
 guardian, student, or employee of the Anchorage School District who finds any instructional
 or library material to be controversial may challenge the selection and, if it is determined that
 the material is outside the scope of the district's guidelines, can have the material removed
 from the library or instructional materials; and
        WHEREAS, under Anchorage School District Board Policy 6144(a), a parent or
 guardian who finds any instructional or library material to be of concern to their child can
 request that their child be assigned alternative material; and
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        WHEREAS the Anchorage School District has adopted administrative guidelines that
 require the principal to hold a meeting with a student who desires a gender transition during
 the school year and the student's parent; and
        WHEREAS, according to the Chief Academic Officer of the Anchorage School
 District, parental permission is required for more than 24 distinct situations, including
 participating in off-site field trips, watching films rated over PG, receiving medication,
 appearing in media releases, participating in fifth grade human growth and development,
 participating in sports, receiving a parking permit, applying for internships, receiving science
 lab safety instruction, using computers at school, receiving a flu shot, participating in youth
 risk behavior surveys, accessing websites that fall under the Children's Online Privacy and
 Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 - 6506), agreeing to the terms of Device User
 Agreements and Library Card Partnerships, transitioning a child's pronoun usage and gender
 identification, inclusion on the student directory, sharing certain information to receive
 Medicaid reimbursement for services provided under the Individuals with Disabilities
 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 - 1482) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20
 U.S.C. 1232g), being evaluated for special education, being re-evaluated for special
 education, receiving disability services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
 (29 U.S.C. 701), receiving a functional behavioral assessment, initial enrollment in special
 education, and releasing student records; and
        WHEREAS, according to the Chief Academic Officer of the Anchorage School
 District, parental notification is given for more than 12 distinct situations, including before a
 student receives material or instruction relating to AS 14.30.355 and 14.30.356 (Alaska Safe
 Children's Act), is assessed using the Alaska System of Academic Readiness, participates in
 health class topics for grades six and higher, takes the School Climate and Connectedness
 survey, is subject to data collection for the National Association for Educational Procurement,
 is subject to data collection for the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment
 Consortium, takes the Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency assessment, takes the
 Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment, takes the mCLASS early literacy screener,
 takes the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress Growth
 assessment, receives and signs a student handbook, and receives information about annual
 student health insurance and Medicaid; and
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        WHEREAS, historically, since statehood, there has been no identifiable legislative
 record showing an attempt by the Alaska State Legislature to restrict a parent's involvement in
 their child's education, but rather, there have been numerous legislative actions seeking to
 clarify and expand parental involvement in a child's education; and
        WHEREAS the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in the 1985 case Fisher v. Fairbanks
 North Star Borough School District, 704 P.2d 213, that a school board has the authority to
 determine instructional materials as long as it does not "attempt to exclude discussions of 'an
 entire system of respected human thought'"; and
        WHEREAS the Anchorage School District has negotiated an agreement with the
 Anchorage Education Association that teachers and faculty enjoy academic freedom "to
 present instructional materials that are pertinent to the subject and level taught, within the
 outlines of the appropriate course content, the planned instructional program, and in
 accordance with School Board policy"; and
        WHEREAS the Southeast Island School District has signed a collective agreement
 that includes an article granting academic freedom to teachers to discuss and respond to
 questions on any material field that is pertinent to the instruction; and
        WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 1969 case Tinker v. Des
 Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, that because "First
 Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment,
 are available to teachers and students," it is unconstitutional to ban "a silent, passive
 expression of opinion, unaccompanied by any disorder or disturbance" and that students do
 not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse
 gate"; and
        WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court ruled in the 2007 case Morse v.
 Frederick, 551 U.S. 393, on facts arising out of events in Juneau, Alaska, that "student
 expression may not be suppressed unless school officials reasonably conclude" that the
 conduct is substantially disruptive to the work and discipline of the school; and
        WHEREAS the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in Breese v. Smith, 501 P.2d 159, that
 students may "wear their hair in accordance with their personal tastes" because both the
 Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Alaska protect a person's
 right to liberty, which the court describes as having at its core "the notion of total personal
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 immunity from government control"; and
         WHEREAS, under AS 14.30.171, enacted in 2006, a school district may not
 recommend, as a condition for attending school, that a student take or continue to take a
 psychotropic drug and may not conduct a psychiatric evaluation on a student unless
 authorized by law or a specific policy adopted by a governing body of a school district; and
         WHEREAS, under AS 14.03.135, enacted in 2022, a school district may not adopt a
 dress code that prohibits a hairstyle associated with race, a natural hairstyle, or the wearing of
 traditional regalia at a graduation ceremony; and
         WHEREAS, under 4 AAC 07, school districts are required to create and publish
 guidelines, procedures, and policies regarding student rights and responsibilities; and
         WHEREAS legislative research services identified only one bill in the last 10 years,
 House Bill No. 60, introduced by Governor Dunleavy in the Thirty-Third Alaska State
 Legislature, that would allow minors 16 years of age or older to override their parents' wishes;
 if passed, House Bill No. 60 would allow a minor to seek behavioral or mental health services
 without parental consent; and
         WHEREAS parental rights are protected in the following areas: the right to choose a
 public secular school or private religious school; the right to inspect and request amendment
 of their child's education records; the right to decide which special educational services their
 child will receive; the right to provide input in the development of a local educational agency
 plan; the right to access a free public education for their children; the right for their children to
 have and attend a publicly funded school in their local community; the right to give or
 withhold consent for school surveys; the right to receive information about concussion risk
 before their child participates in sports; the right to withdraw their child from a standards-
 based assessment; the right to be notified and