H.R. 5 · 119th Congress · House
Parents Bill of Rights Act
Introduced 2025-01-10 · Sponsored by Julia Letlow (R-LA) · Last updated 2026-03-30
Last action (2025-04-10): Received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Summary
Requires K-12 schools receiving federal funding to provide parents with access to curricula, reading lists, and budgets. Mandates parental notification before surveys are administered to students and before any change to a student's services or monitoring related to gender identity. Requires schools to notify parents of violent activity on campus.
The Good
Increases transparency in what schools teach
Requires schools to post curricula, reading materials, and budgets publicly. Surveys show a majority of parents across party lines want more visibility into their children's education. This addresses a documented information gap.
Codifies parental notification for safety incidents
Requires schools to notify parents within 24 hours of violent incidents on campus. Multiple incidents nationwide have revealed delayed or absent parent notification after school safety events.
Protects students from unvetted surveys
Requires parental opt-in before students can be given surveys on sensitive topics including political beliefs, mental health, sexual behavior, and religion. Addresses documented cases of schools administering sensitive surveys without parental knowledge.
The Bad
Gender identity notification could endanger LGBTQ+ students
The requirement to notify parents before any change in gender identity-related services could force the outing of transgender students in unsupportive households. Major medical organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics have warned this can increase suicide risk among transgender youth.
Could chill teaching of controversial but important topics
Teachers and education groups warn that broad curriculum transparency requirements, combined with the political environment, may lead to self-censorship on topics like slavery, civil rights, and climate science to avoid parent complaints.
Unfunded mandate creates administrative burden
The bill requires extensive documentation, publication, and notification systems but provides no federal funding to implement them. School districts, many already underfunded, would bear the full cost of compliance.
Vote Record
House, 2025-03-24
Passed House Vote Record
Individual vote records will be available once the data pipeline fetches roll call data from Congress.gov.
All Sources
Everything on this page ties back to one of these. Click through if you want to check.
- Congress.gov — H.R. 5
- GovTrack — H.R. 5
- H.R. 5 Bill Text — Section 2
- Pew Research — Parents and Schools Survey
- American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement
- Trevor Project — Impact of Forced Outing
- National Education Association Statement on H.R. 5
- CBO Cost Estimate for H.R. 5
- National School Boards Association