The proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in Colorado is a nightmare of possible consequences. Erica Breunlin investigates for the Colorado Sun.
A Colorado ballot measure that seeks to constitutionally protect parents’ right to send their child to any school, including a private school, also aims to create the right for parents to direct their child’s education — raising questions about the ways parents could influence what and how students learn.
The provision within Amendment 80 follows a national movement that has seen parents across the country demand school libraries ban books they deem inappropriate for students and voice concerns about how teachers approach topics like gender and race in the classroom.
“It’s easy to foresee a lot of troubling demands,” said Welner, who also is a professor in the CU School of Education in Boulder. “At what point can the school tell the parent to stop directing their child’s education?”
Welner noted that it’s impossible to know right now how courts would interpret the right for parents to direct their child’s education in litigation and what consequences it would bear for schools.
“I think it does open up those lawsuits,” he said. “Whether courts later close the door to those lawsuits is an open question, but I certainly expect those sorts of lawsuits.”
