EDITOR’S NOTE: Timothy Faber serves as legislative liaison for the Missouri Baptist Convention.
There are several bills in our state legislature this session that call for establishing a “Parental Bill of Rights.” Among them are HB627, Sb4, SB89, SB318, SB451, and SJR29. Each of them have some very good aspects. The final outcome will likely be some combination of these bills.
It should be abundantly clear, however, that simply making a law does not solve the problem. In Scripture, we see God giving the 10 Commandments, not to solve the problem of sin but to reveal just how sinful mankind is. It is only through the blood of Jesus that sin, whose wages are death, is itself ultimately put to death.
It is interesting that many Missourians, including many Missouri Baptists, are clamoring for such parental rights to be codified in state statute, while at the same time not exercising the foremost political right and responsibility that we all possess. What value is there in adding rights to our statutes when this supreme political right is willingly neglected?
What is this foremost and supreme political right? It is commonly known as voting.
For the past few years parent’s (and others) have been loudly decrying the ills of our public schools. Such issues as: Who can be on girls sports teams? Who uses the locker rooms and bathrooms? What version of American History are students being taught? What standards of success (if any) are being met? Etc. While each of these issues are important, they have become an issue because of one simple point: Parents are not voting.
Oh, parents may vote in a presidential election, once, every four years. But that has nothing directly to do with how their local schools are run. Every public school district in the country has a publicly elected school board. Those board members determine what happens in their schools. They determine who the superintendent will be and who to hire as teachers and coaches. They determine school policies and to what degree they will cooperate with state and national education agencies. And those school board members are chosen by a fraction of the registered voters. In fact, the voter turnout in municipal elections is typically lower than 10 percent or less. That means that barely over 5 percent of eligible voters may determine who will be on the board that determines the fate of our children’s education.
If we are unwilling to exercise this most supreme right of electing school board members, what would cause us to think that codifying other parental rights will improve public education? And, by the way, those who homeschool or send their children to a private school, still have a responsibility to vote and determine the course of education for their broader community. Remember, those children will grow up and run businesses, as well as becoming teachers and elected officials.
School board elections will be held April 4. Find out who the candidates are and what they stand for. Then vote. It’s easy to complain and not do anything about a problem. Doing something about it takes a little more effort.