The Arizona Senate passed a bill this week that would increase academic transparency, giving parents the right to see what’s being taught in schools.
As reported by Just the News, the bill passed in a 16 to 13 vote along party lines.
The bill establishes a right for parents to know what’s being taught in public schools and would require schools to post the specific learning materials used in each institution on its website.
“I do see a huge benefit of this,” Arizona Sen. Paul Boyer said in a statement. “Teachers regularly submit lesson plans. They do, every week. All this bill calls for is to post that on a Google Doc or a Word doc for any parent that wants to see it…It’s also another benefit for teachers.”
“If, say, hypothetically, I’m in a ‘D’ or ‘F’ school, it would be nice to know…what are the ‘A’ schools doing?” he continued. “Maybe, just maybe, I could figure out what the ‘A’ schools are doing and I could do that in my classroom.”
“The heart of the bill is getting to all of the materials being available to parents because they need access,” Sen. Nancy Barto, the bill’s sponsor, said. “They need to know what is being presented to their children.”
The bill now heads to the Arizona House of Representatives, which has a 31 to 29 majority.
