Skip to main content
S 2435Curriculum and Standards

Education - Rights of Parents and Guardians in Public Educational Instruction Act

This bill requires schools to post all class materials online for parents to review and allows parents to opt-out of lessons.

Introduced
Population
Affected
72
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 6, 2026Committee Senate Education

Plain-English Summary

This legislation, titled the "Rights of Parents and Guardians in Public Educational Instruction Act," mandates that all public and charter schools in Rhode Island publish a comprehensive list of all learning materials and activities on their websites. This includes textbooks, videos, digital apps, and guest lecturers. The bill grants parents the right to review these materials in advance and object to any content they consider harmful due to sexual, violent, or profane elements. If a parent objects, the school must allow the student to withdraw from that activity and provide an alternative assignment.

For younger readers

This new law says that schools have to put a list of everything you learn on the computer so your parents can see it first. This includes the books you read, the videos you watch, and the apps you use in class. If your mom or dad sees something they think is bad, scary, or not right for you, they can tell the school "no." Then, the teacher has to give you a different assignment to do instead. It makes sure parents know exactly what is happening in your classroom before it happens.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Parents and GuardiansPublic School TeachersSchool AdministratorsK-12 StudentsSchool Committee Members
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

Moderate risk

Moderate Risk. While parents have a right to direct the upbringing of their children, the bill's broad definition of "harmful" (including "sexual content" or "profane language") could be challenged as vague or overbroad, potentially leading to viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment if used to remove library books or silence specific viewpoints. Additionally, the mandate might impinge on the academic freedom traditionally afforded to educational institutions, though K-12 curriculum is subject to state control.

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Increases transparency in the educational system by requiring schools to publicly list materials, potentially allowing communities to better understand curriculum standards and hold districts accountable.
  • Provides a formal mechanism for parents to be involved in their children's education, ensuring that families are aware of the resources being utilized in the classroom.
  • Establishes a clear protocol for addressing concerns about violent or profane content, which could theoretically protect students from age-inappropriate material regardless of political affiliation.
  • Creates an immense administrative burden on educators to catalog every single resource, which may drive teachers away from the profession and reduce the quality of public education services.
  • Likely to lead to the censorship of materials related to LGBTQ+ issues, race, and social justice under the vague definition of "harmful" or "sexual content," thereby marginalizing vulnerable student populations.
  • Undermines the professional autonomy of educators and could force schools to sanitize history and literature to avoid litigation and parental conflict, limiting critical thinking.
For Conservatives
  • Empowers parents with the direct authority to oversee and control their children's exposure to educational materials, reinforcing the family unit's primary role in child-rearing.
  • Ensures full transparency in public schools, preventing the introduction of controversial ideologies or age-inappropriate sexual content without parental knowledge.
  • Provides a legal mechanism to hold school districts accountable and allows families to opt-out of instruction that conflicts with their traditional values or religious beliefs.
  • Imposes significant bureaucratic mandates on schools that could increase administrative costs and divert taxpayer funds away from core educational instruction toward data entry.
  • The detailed reporting requirements might inadvertently create a government database of curriculum that could be used by future state administrations to enforce standardization that locals dislike.
  • The sheer volume of required data entry could paralyze school operations, leading to inefficiencies that ultimately fail to serve the students' academic needs.

Votes

Loading votes...

Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 152 additions

SECTION 1. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled "EDUCATION" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 16-117-1. Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Rights of Parents and Guardians in Public Educational Instruction Act." 16-117-2. Legislative purpose. It is the purpose of this chapter to enable parents and guardians to have a voice in the materials taught to their kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) children. 16-117-3. Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings unless the context shall clearly indicate another or different meaning or intent:

(1) "Lesson plan" means the daily, weekly, or other routinely produced guide, description or outline of the instruction to be provided by a teacher to students at school.

(2) "Objects to any learning material or activity on the basis that the material or activity is harmful" means objecting to the material or activity because of sexual content, violent content or profane or vulgar language.

(3) "Procedures or processes" means procedures or processes that may vary by subject, area or grade.

(4) "Public educational institution" means any of the following:

(i) A school district, including its schools; or

(ii) A charter school.

(5) "Used for student instruction" means:

(i) Assigned, distributed or otherwise presented to students in any course for which students receive academic credit or in any educational capacity in which the school requires the student body to participate or in which a majority of students, in a given grade level, participate; and

(ii) Includes learning materials or activities from which students are required to choose one or more from a selection of materials that is restricted to specific titles. 16-117-4. Publication and posting by municipality.

(a) Every municipality shall publish or prominently place on the municipal website, at least annually, a directory summarizing the subject matter of all currently applicable ordinances, codes and substantive policy statements. The municipality shall keep copies of the directory and all substantive policy statements at one location. The directory, ordinances, codes and substantive policy statements and any materials incorporated by reference in the documents shall be open to public inspection at the office of the municipality or posted on the municipal website.

(b) The municipality may post on its website links to the website of each school that posts materials pursuant to this chapter and that is located within the municipality 16-117-5. Parents' and guardians' rights in educational materials.

(a) A parent or guardian of a student in a public educational institution has the right to review learning materials and activities in advance. A parent or guardian who objects to any learning material or activity on the basis that the material or activity is harmful may request to withdraw their student from the activity or from the class or program in which the material is used and request an alternative assignment.

(b) To ensure a parent's or guardian’s right to review learning materials and activities as described in subsection (a) of this section, beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, each school committee or school district governing board and charter school governing body shall ensure that each school under its authority prominently discloses on a publicly accessible portion of its website all of the following:

(1) The procedures or processes in effect at the school for a parent or guardian to access in advance to review the current learning materials and activities used for student instruction at the school;

(2) The procedures or processes in effect for the school principal or other staff to document, review or approve lesson plans or the learning materials and activities used for student instruction or teacher training at the school and any change in those procedures or processes from the prior year;

(3) A listing of the learning materials and activities used for instruction at the school in the current year, including the following, organized, at a minimum, by subject area and grade:

(i) Textbooks, articles and other required reading materials;

(ii) Videos and audio recordings;

(iii) Digital materials;

(iv) Websites;

(v) Online applications for a phone, laptop or tablet;

(vi) Instructional handouts and worksheets;

(vii) Grade level or school wide assemblies;

(viii) Guest lecturers;

(ix) Action-oriented civics learning assignments or projects, including the contacting of elected officials, advocating for or commenting on a political or social issue or participating in political or social demonstrations;

(x) Service-learning, internships or other forms of collaboration with outside organizations after regular school hours for course credit or as a class project or assignment; and

(xi) Other educational events facilitated by the school's staff, including those events conducted by outside individuals or organizations;

(4) A listing of the teacher training materials and activities used at the school in the current year;

(5) A listing of available resources in the school library at each school that maintains a catalog or documented inventory of those resources; and

(6) A copy of each survey or the full text of any question included on a survey administered at the school that solicits personal information about a student, and that requires the authorization of the school district or charter school.

(c) The information required by this section shall be displayed online at least seven (7) days before the start of each school year, if available, or, at the latest, three (3) calendar days before the first use of each training or learning material or activity, survey or library resource in the current year. Information posted pursuant to this section may be posted on an ongoing basis; provided that, parents or guardians are notified of additions made during the school year at least three (3) calendar days before the first use of the material or activity. The listing of materials shall remain accessible via the school website until at least the conclusion of the following school year.

(d) In preparing the listing of learning materials and activities, the school:

(1) Shall list the information necessary to identify the specific learning materials and activities used for student instruction, including at least the title and the author, organization or Internet address associated with each learning material and activity. A short description of the learning material or activity may be included as necessary. This section does not require:

(i) The digital reproduction of the learning materials or activities;

(ii) The disclosure of academic assessments; or

(iii) The separate reporting of individual components of learning materials that are produced as a single volume, except that for digital volumes containing works by multiple authors, the school shall provide either a table of contents or Internet address that discloses the discrete works and authors contained within the volume. Articles, videos or other materials from websites shall be identified, if possible, with an Internet address specific to the relevant content used for student instruction;

(2) May use collaborative online document or spreadsheet software that allows multiple authorized users to update or make additions to posted content on an ongoing basis; provided that, the information is publicly accessible via a posted link on the school website; and

(3) May satisfy the requirements of this section by posting a copy or the full text of the lesson plans submitted to the school principal or other staff by instructors at the school in the current year; provided that, any learning materials and activities not recorded on the lesson plans are also listed via a publicly accessible portion of the school website. 16-117-6. Waiver.

(a) A charter school may require parents or guardians to waive the right to object to learning materials or activities pursuant to this chapter as a condition of enrollment if the charter school provides a complete list of books and materials to be used each school year before the student enrolls. If the charter school introduces books or materials that were not disclosed prior to enrollment, the parent or guardian retains the right to object to those materials pursuant to this chapter.

(b) A charter school may require that any request to review learning materials or activities or to withdraw the student from learning materials or activities pursuant to this chapter be made in writing.

(c) A public educational institution shall obtain signed, written consent from a student's parent or guardian before doing either of the following:

(1) Using video, audio or electronic materials that may be inappropriate for the age of the student; or

(2) Providing sex education instruction to the student. At the same time the public educational institution seeks consent, it shall inform the student's parent or guardian of their right to review the learning materials and activities.

(d) This section does not require a school to post or distribute a training or learning material or activity in a manner that would constitute an infringement of copyright under the copyright act (P. L. 94-553; 90 stat. 2541 to 2598; 17 USC §§ 101 to 1332). 16-117-7. Remedies.

(a) The parent or guardian may not initiate legal action to enforce this chapter unless the party adheres to the following process:

(1) The party shall submit a complaint in writing with the specific facts of the alleged violation to the principal of the school. The principal shall investigate the complaint and respond in writing, including a description of any action taken to resolve the complaint, within fifteen (15) days after receiving the written complaint.

(2) If the action taken by the principal of the school does not resolve the complaint, the party shall submit a complaint in writing with the specific facts of the alleged violation to the school district governing board or charter school governing body or the administrator designated by the governing board or governing body. The school district governing board, charter school governing body or designated administrator shall investigate the complaint and respond in writing, including a description of any action taken to resolve the complaint, within twenty-five (25) days after receiving the written complaint.

(3) If the action taken by the school district governing board, charter school governing body or designated administrator does not resolve the complaint, the party may pursue legal action to enforce this chapter.

(4) If a complaint is not resolved after pursing resolution pursuant to this section, the parent or guardian may initiate a suit in superior court to bring action for injunctive relief to compel the school district or charter school to bring the school into compliance with this chapter. 16-117-8. Liberal construction. This chapter, being necessary for the welfare of the state and its inhabitants, shall be liberally construed in order to effectuate its purposes. 16-117-9. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part of this chapter shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of the chapter but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part directly involved in the controversy in which that judgment shall have been rendered.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.