11. Department of Education · Major · Needs Congress
Pass a federal Parents' Bill of Rights with strict scrutiny
Printed page 344 11. Department of Education
“Work to pass a federal Parents' Bill of Rights that restores parental rights to a “top-tier” right. Such legislation would give families a fair hearing in court when the federal government enforces any policy against parents in a way that undermines their right and responsibility to raise, educate, and care for their children.”
What has happened
- Not started
H.R. 6860, the Parental Rights Relief Act (Hageman, 2025-12-18), would give parents a private right of action in federal court under FERPA and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment — the "fair hearing in court" half of the ask, for two statutes rather than as a general standard, and with no heightened standard of review. It was referred to committee and has not moved.
- Not started
No Parents' Bill of Rights has been introduced in the 119th Congress. The nearest measure on parental rights as a "top-tier" right is H.J. Res. 127, a proposed constitutional amendment submitted on 2025-09-19 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it stayed.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The administration has worked the parental-rights ground administratively instead: the Department announced enforcement of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment on 2026-08-26 and a Topeka Public Schools resolution agreement on 2026-08-25. Enforcement of existing law is not the legislation this Recommendation asks for, and neither page was read in full.
- Negative search: a search of the titles of the bills we keep and search for “Parents’ Bill of Rights” returns nothing; for “parental rights” it returns only the two measures above.
- Action
- create
- Object
- Federal Parents' Bill of Rights
- ID
- 862