Parents Bill of Rights Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BACON. Madam Chair, I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 5 that supports students, parents, and school personnel. My amendment would simply add that local education agencies provide to parents the number of school counselors employed at their child's school so that parents have a better idea about their child's education and safety during the school day.

As we all know, school counselors play an important role not only in the academic and career development of our students, but they address emotional challenges that are a critical component of safety in our schools. This simple provision gives parents the full knowledge and transparency needed to decide if their children need additional resources outside of the academic environment. This can assist our educators in making sure our children are best prepared for school and learning.

So, Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment which has support from both sides of the aisle. A happy and healthy student empowers our educators to provide the best possible education, and parents deserve to be empowered to best help their children achieve that.

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Mr. BACON. Madam Chair, this amendment doesn't increase the number of counselors, but it allows the parents to know if the number of counselors is adequate or not. This is very important for our parents to have.

This is being requested by teachers and parents. I have received this request from teachers and parents to have this added to the bill because they said it will make the bill better.

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Mr. BACON. Madam Chair, I will close by saying that I would appreciate the support of both sides of the aisle. This bill has support from teachers and parents to have this added in.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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