Legal group seeks answers from Biden administration over planned parental rights regulation
Jeremiah Poff
EXCLUSIVE — America First Legal is seeking answers about a planned Department of Education regulation on an obscure parental rights law after the group filed a series of complaints under the statute.
The conservative legal group led by former Trump administration senior adviser Stephen Miller filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Department of Education, seeking records from the department related to the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, a little-known 1974 law that allows parents to access their child’s school materials and opt-out of third party contractor surveys.
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The Biden administration has indicated that it plans to pursue a rulemaking process to change the rules surrounding the parental rights law. According to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the administration aims to release the notice of proposed rulemaking in August 2023 to “update, clarify, and improve the current regulations by addressing outstanding policy issues,” and “make changes related to the enforcement responsibilities of the office concerning PPRA.”
The FOIA request seeks records after Feb. 2, 2022, the day that America First Legal released a legal toolkit that sought to educate parents about the provisions of the PPRA and how it could be used to assert parental rights.
“Given the importance of the PPRA and its existing regulations to parents seeking to exercise their Constitutional rights of oversight and control regarding their children’s education, this Freedom of Information Act request is crucial to provide transparency on the Department’s process and motivations for the proposed rulemaking, and to ensure the Department’s current political leadership is held accountable for any action that limits or impairs parental rights,” the legal group wrote in the records request.
In the past year, the group has filed two lawsuits against school districts in Wisconsin and Ohio that relied, in part, on the statutory interpretation of the PPRA. In 2021, the legal organization also filed a complaint with the Education Department against Cedar Grove School District in New Jersey that alleged the school district had violated the law.
America First Legal senior adviser Ian Prior said the group will “vigorously” highlight the results of its investigation and push to maintain and increase protections provided to parents by the PPRA.
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“The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment is a key tool for parents dealing with school districts who refuse to be transparent and accountable, to parents seeking to exercise their fundamental constitutional rights to guide the upbringing of their children,” Prior said in a statement. “As the Biden administration, teachers’ unions, and local school districts continue to shut parents out of key decisions related to their children’s education, it is paramount that the public have visibility into what changes the administration is planning and the reasons behind those proposed changes.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.