Exclusive: Here’s how parents can protect their rights as kids head back to school

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty released a parental toolkit on Tuesday to help parents understand their rights as kids head back to school.

The toolkit, first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, explains to parents the legal rights they have in their children’s education, especially in light of recent Supreme Court decisions and directives from the Trump administration, such as the right to opt out of gender-ideology-themed lessons. The document lays out how parents can raise concerns about their kids’ schools, how to file records requests when they think the school may be hiding something, and what religious and free speech rights students — and parents — have at school.

“As another school year begins, parents are left with a litany of questions about their rights under federal law, state law, and recent court decisions,” Cory Brewer, education counsel at WILL, said in a statement. “Too often, when distributing this information is left solely to school districts, parents are left in the dark. WILL’s new toolkit gives parents the tools they need to advocate for their children and make informed decisions about their education.”

Decades of court cases have affirmed the rights of parents to oversee their children’s education, and the First Amendment protects, alongside state laws, parents’ rights to speak out at school board meetings and object to schools’ actions, the guide explains. The document lays out specifically how students’ constitutional rights must be upheld in schools, such as the religious freedoms they are entitled to.

WILL also outlines how parents can submit legal complaints if they believe their child is being discriminated against based on race, gender, or religion, especially given recent guidance from the federal government, such as enforcing Title IX based on biological sex rather than gender ideology and banning practices that consider race in admissions.

Along with legal explainers, the guide also suggests questions for parents to ensure schools are not following failed curriculum models and are properly addressing learning deficits. Parents are told what red flags to look out for in their children’s homework — such as reading curriculum with little focus on phonics or math curriculum that fails to teach basic foundations — and what questions to ask teachers and school boards to understand how schools are educating.

The toolkit also comes equipped with sample lesson opt-out forms and records request forms, and offers book recommendations for parents wanting to dive further into understanding the current education landscape. The opt-out form helps parents ensure their children are not being forced to participate in religious rituals, gender ideology, or race-themed lessons or events, surveys that may unintentionally convince kids they are mentally ill or questioning their gender, mandated pronouns, or sex education.

For Wisconsin families, WILL explains student immunization laws in the state, including which vaccinations are required and which exemptions are allowed.