UPDATE
After reading an article about new senate bill 521, the Texas Parental Control Accountability Act proposed by State Representative Jeff Leach and supported by Texas Alliance for Life aimed at empowering families when it comes to human sexuality instruction in schools, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. But I also couldn’t help but sigh in exasperation, too. While I am thrilled that such a bill has been proposed, part of me is disturbed that it has come to this.
What is it?
It is the proposal of essentially returning what belongs exclusively to families to begin with. Empowerment. Schools have veered so very far away from the basics – reading, writing, arithmetic – that they have been swimming in dangerously unchartered waters for a while now, trying desperately to dictate and define morality on behalf of parents and families. What was perceived to be a noble act by many – educating the children whose parents truly did not care to take their parenting responsibility seriously – has escalated into a violation of boundaries of those parents who do care about the welfare of their children. The actions of few irresponsible parents have prompted schools to make sweeping actions against an entire community, many of whom are parents who actually do want to teach their own children about morality, right down to sex education.
This isn’t even an issue of religion, necessarily. I can easily remove the Catholic component and ask, who do you think teaches your children best? Who knows your children best? Who loves your children and hugs and kisses them each day? The answer should be a resounding “I am!”
This bill represents more than just fighting against third parties trying to educate our children on {a complete and utter lack of} sexual morality, under the guise of being responsible, with financial motives. It represents a battle between parents and everyone else. At the end of the day, parents are responsible for the well being and shaping of their children, from shelter, food, love, to holding ourselves accountable to what we expose them to. Surely even abortion providers can agree that parents are the best advocates for what’s best for their children…right?
How you as a parent can get involved
- Write a brief, three-minute testimony to be presented either in person OR via e-mail to be presented on your behalf
- The focus of testimony should be along these lines:
- FOR EXAMPLE: As a parent, I don’t want Planned Parenthood involved in any way in public schools, whether making sex education presentations, doing teacher training, or students be referred to Planned Parenthood.
- Share any experience you have had personally with Planned Parenthood.
- Share any Planned Parenthood materials you have that shows PP’s philosophy, especially if you know these materials are given to kids or have been used in schools.
- Should you have any questions or hesitations in crafting your testimony, please do NOT hesitate to contact Anne Newman, Director of Education for Women’s Wellness Coalition of Texas at anne@wwctx.com. She will be happy to help review and make suggestions.
- Deadline for testimonies: Monday, March 3 at NOON for the Senate hearing – if for some reason, you miss the deadline, please DO write a testimony anyway and send it along to Anne so that it may be considered for the House hearing.
- Want to read your testimony in person? The Senate hearing will be at 9 a.m. in the Capitol building, room TBD – e-mail Anne for information as it becomes available.
How you, as a concerned citizen, can get involved
- Lastly, show your support of SB 521 by contacting your state senator to express your opinion about SB 521 and how you feel about Planned Parenthood teaching sex education and distributing their materials in public schools.
- Sign in at the hearing to register support for the bill.
- If you cannot attend the hearing, you can email the committee members.
Go to www.capitol.state.tx.usClick on Senate. Click on committees. Click on Education. There you’ll find the committee members. Emails are [first name][lastname@senate.state.
tx.us] -
Examplejohn.smith@senate.state.tx.us
For more information, contact Anne Newman – anne@wwctx.com
I’m not really sure this bill is about Empowerment. Parents already are empowered to talk and educate about these matters. If you read the text of the bill, it doesn’t eliminate sex education. It says that outside organizations cannot provide materials on sexuality and reproduction without the parents’ permission. Teachers can still teach about these topics. And the bill also says abortion providers (e.g. Planned Parenthood) cannot give the schools materials on these topics even if the parents have consented.
The parents are just as Empowered as they always have been, and the bill is directed at the source of the materials used in classrooms, not the topic itself.
It is definitely one component – you are correct that it is not solely about empowerment, but in a society where parents are not asked or in some cases even told about what is going on in the schools {my daughter’s middle school participated in a GLBT tolerance day by observing silence that was not *once* shared with parents}, we have to make waves where we can. It starts with talking about the root of the problem – schools moving away from their intended purpose and trying {at the cost of parental notification at each turn} to educate on matters of morality – an area they are not welcome to do so, as parents know their children best. My concern is
1) schools do not know the students as well as the parents and
2) it teaches and encourages children to go to school officials before parents, especially when you remove parents’ ability to know what’s being taught or the chance to object or remove your child from the setting
This bill scratches at the surface, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
Thank you for your post supporting SB 521. For updates see TexasParentsCare.com. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood recently took over sex ed instruction in Austin ISD and has been giving sex ed in most districts surrounding Corpus Christi, Texas for more than 10 years. Texas Parents Care has worked hard to stop Planned Parenthood affiliated sex ed programs in Cy Fair ISD in the Houston area. But there is much work to be done to protect our children from sex ed instruction provided by the abortion industry and their affiliates. Stay tuned on SB 521. We appreciate your support!