SB 58— Establishes a Parents Bill of Rights for Students in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Political Deep Dive
Most people are more aware of who is in Washington D.C. controlling the federal government; however, those at the state level are lesser known, and yet they have more control over our lives. Through our Political Deep Dives (PDD), you can see how YOUR Kansas representatives have voted on bills that affect your day-to-day life. In this PDD, we will be focusing on SB 58—Establishing the parents' bill of rights for parents of students attending elementary or secondary school in this state.
This information is available thanks to kslegislature.org; ballotpedia.org; and votesmart.org
Highlights of this bill include:
Establishes the following parental rights to be reserved for every parent of a child in the state of Kansas, including the right to (Sec. 1):
Direct the education and care of their child;
Direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of their child;
Request, access, and inspect all written and electronic records maintained by the school relating to their child;
Be informed of and inspect the curriculum, instructional materials, and any other materials that are made available or taught to their child in school;
Attend publicly designated meeting of the local school board and the right to question and address school officials during designated public comment periods or through letters, electronic communications, or in-person meetings;
Make healthcare and medical decisions for their child;
Expect their child and each teacher and educator of their child from being compelled to affirm, believe, profess, or adhere to any idea that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Expect their childs school from contracting with teacher professional development providers that promote racially essentialist doctrines or practices that have been held to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Expect their childs teacher or educator to present facts without distortion, bias, or personal prejudice;
Expect their childs teacher or educator to eliminate coercion that forces teachers and educators to support actions and ideologies that violate individual professional integrity; and
Assert any other inalienable or constitutional right that is reserved to the parent and the child pursuant to state or federal law.
Specifies that this bill shall take effect after its publication into the statute book (Sec. 2).
A summary of the bill can be found here.
This bill was first introduced to the Kansas Senate on Thursday, January 21, 2021. On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, the bill passed 39-0 and was received and introduced to the House the next day. On Thursday, March 25, 2021, the House passed the bill as amended 122-0. On Friday, April 1, 2022 the House Conference Committee Report was adopted 67-46 and the Senate Conference Committee Report was adopted 23-15. The bill was enrolled and presented to Democrat Governor Laura Kelly on Friday, April 8, 2022, and she would veto the bill the following Friday, sending it back to the Senate. The Senate made a motion to override Governor Kelly’s veto on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. This is how the Kansas Senate voted on this bill:
(Political Party, District number, Voted Yes/No/Did not vote)
**If you are unsure what district you are in, you can click here to find out.
Dennis D. Pyle (R,1,Y), Marci A. Francisco (D,2,N), Tom Holland (D,3,N), David Haley (D,4,N), Jeff Pittman (D,5,N), Pat Huggins Pettey (D,6,N), Ethan Corson (D,7,N), Cindy Holscher (D,8,N), Beverly Gossage (R,9,Y), Mike Thompson (R,10,Y), Kellie Warren (R,11,Y), Caryn Tyson (R,12,Y), Richard Hilderbrand (R,13,Y), Michael A. Fagg (R,14,Y), Virgil Peck Jr. (R,15,Y), Ty Masterson (R,16,Y), Jeff Longbine (R,17,Y), Kristen O’Shea (R,18,Y), Rick Kloos (R,19,Y), Brenda S. Dietrich (R,20,N), Dinah H. Sykes (D,21,N), Tom Hawk (D,22,N), Robert S. Olson (R,23,Y), Jeremy Ryan Claeys (R,24,Y), Mary Ware (D,25,DNV), Dan Kerschen (R,26,Y), Gene Suellentrop (R,27,Y), Mike Petersen (R,28,Y), Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D,29,N), Renee Erickson (R,30,Y), Carolyn McGinn (R,31,Y), Larry W. Alley (R,32,Y), Alicia Straub (R,33,Y), Mark B. Steffen (R,34,Y), Richard Wilborn (R,35,Y), Elain S. Bowers (R,36,Y), Molly Baumgardner (R,37,Y), Ronald Ryckman (R,38,Y), John Doll (R,39,N), Rick Billinger (R,40,Y)
Overriding Governor Kelly’s veto was a success for the Kansas Senate, voting 27-12. Those who voted in favor of the bill included 27 Republicans and no Democrats. A total of 12 Senators voted against the bill including 2 Republicans and 10 Democrats. One Democrat was absent and not voting.
Two days after the Senate voted to override the veto, the House voted to override the veto. This is how the Kansas House voted on this bill:
Michael Houser (R,1,N), Kenneth Collins (R,2,Y), Charles “Chuck” Smith (R,3,Y), Trevor Jacobs (R,4,Y), Mark Samsel (R,5,N), Samantha M. Poetter Parshall (R,6,Y), Richard J. Proehl (R,7,Y), Chris Croft (R,8,Y), Kent L. Thompson (R,9,Y), Christina Haswood (D,10,N), Jim Kelly (R,11,N), Doug Blex (R,12,Y), Joe Newland (R,13,Y), Charlotte Esau (R,14,Y), John M. Toplikar (R,15,Y), Linda Featherston (D,16,N), Jo Ella Hoye (D,17,N), Cindy Neighbor (D,18,N), Stephanie Sawyer Clayton (D,19,N), Mari-Lynn Poskin (D,20,N), Jerry Stogsdill (D,21,N), Lindsay Vaughn (D,22,DNV), Susan Ruiz (D,23,N), Jarrod Ousley (D,24,N), Rui Xu (D,25,N), Adam Thomas (R,26,Y), Sean E. Tarwater Sr. (R,27,Y), Carl Turner (R,28,Y), Heather Meyer (D,29,N), Brandon T. Woodard (D,30,N), Louis E. Ruiz (D,31,N), Pam Curtis (D,32,N), Tom Burroughs (D,33,N), Valdenia Camille Winn (D,34,N), Broderick T. Henderson (D,35,N), Kathy Wolfe Moore (D,36,N), Aaron Coleman (D,37,N), Timothy Johnson (R, 38,Y), Owen Donohoe (R,39,Y), David W. French (R,40,Y), Pat Proctor (R,41,Y), Lance Neelly (R,42,Y), William “Bill” Sutton (R,43,DNV), Barbara W. Ballard (D,44,N), Mike Amyx (D,45,N), Dennis J. Highberger (D,46,N), Ronald B. Ellis (R,47,Y), Dan Osman (D,48,N), Megan Lynn (R,49,Y), Fred C. Patton (R,50,N), Ron L. Highland (R,51,Y), Jesse Borjon (R,52,N), Jim Gartner (D,53,N), Ken Corbet (R,54,Y), Annie Kuether (D,55,N), Virgil Weigel (D,56,N), John Alcala (D,57,N), Vic Miller (D,58,N), Blaine Finch (R,59,Y), Mark Schreiber (R,60,N), Francis Awerkamp (R,61,Y), Randy Garber (R,62,Y), John R. Eplee (R,63,Y), Susan L. Carlson (R,64,Y), Lonnie G. Clark (R,65,Y), Sydney Carlin (D,66,N), Mike Dodson (R,67,Y), Dave Baker (R,68,N), Clarke Sanders (R,69,Y), John E. Barker (R,70,Y), Steven K. Howe (R,71,Y), Avery Anderson (R,72,Y), Les Mason (R,73,Y), Stephen Owens (R,74,Y), Will Carpenter (R,75,Y), Eric L. Smith (R,76,Y), Kristey S. Williams (R,77,Y), Ron Ryckman Jr. (R,78,Y), Cheryl Helmer (R,79,Y), Bill Rhiley (R,80,Y), Leah Howell (R,81,Y), Jesse Burris (R,82,Y), Henry M. Helgerson Jr. (D,83,N), Gail Finney (D,84,N), Patrick Penn (R,85,Y), Stephanie Byers (D,86,N), Susan Oliver Estes (R,87,Y), Chuck Schmidt (D,88,N), Kelechi “KC” Ohaebosim (D,89,N), Steve Huebert (R,90,Y), Emil M. Bergquist (R,91,Y), John Carmichael (D,92,N), Brian Bergkamp (R,93,Y), Leo G. Delperdang (R,94,Y), Tom Sawyer (D,95,N), Tom Kessler II (R,96,Y), Nick J. Hoheisel (R,97,Y), Cyndi Howerton (R,98,Y), Susan Humphries (R,99,Y), Daniel R. Hawkins (R,100,Y), Joe Seiwert (R,101,Y), Jason Probst (D,102,N), Ponka-We Victors (D,103,DNV), Paul Waggoner (R,104,Y), Brenda K. Landwehr (R,105,Y), Lisa M. Moser (R,106,Y), Susan L. Concannon (R,107,N), Steven C. Johnson (R,108,Y), Troy L. Waymaster (R,109,Y), Ken Rahjes (R,110,N), Barbara K. Wasinger (R,111,Y), Tory Marie Arnberger (R,112,Y), Brett Fairchild (R,113,Y), Michael Murphy (R,114,Y), Boyd Orr (R,115,N), Kyle Hoffman (R,116,Y), Tatum Lee (R,117,Y), James “Jim” Minnix (R,118,Y), Bradley Ralph (R,119,N), Adam C. Smith (R,120,N), John Resman (R,121,Y), Bill Clifford (R,122,Y), John P. Wheeler Jr. (R,123,N), Martin Long (R,124,Y), Shannon Francis (R,125,Y)
The Kansas House failed to override Governor Kelly’s veto and the veto was sustained with a 72-50 vote. All 72 votes in favor of the bill came from Republicans. Of the 50 ‘no’ votes, 37 came from Democrats and 13 came from Republicans. There were 3 in the House that were absent and not voting including 2 Democrats and 1 Republican.