Does Sen. Burton’s Proposed Bill Force Teachers to Out their LGBT Students?

The San Antonio Current recently reported that Texas Republicans have proposed a bill that will force schools and teachers to out students to their parents, with or without the student’s permission.

Apparently, the Senate bill 242, which was filed on Thursday by Senator Konni Burton, would require public schools to give parents any general information about their child that the school has obtained.
Although, at first glance the request for information seems legit, the San Antonio Current says Burton has said the bill is a direct response to the rule that banned teachers and staff members of the Fort Worth school district from disclosing their students’ transgender status to their parents.

However, a Texas state senator’s office has since refuted the claims of the publication, regarding the bill. According to The Chron, the bill will not force schools to “out” their LGBT students.

The two-page bill reportedly states that a parent is authorized to view all of the schools written records about their child’s “general physical, psychological or emotional well-being.” Information related to abuse of the child is exempt, however. In addition, the bill threatens to discipline any school staffer, who attempts to withhold or conceal any requested information.

In turn, Equality Texas issued a statement on Friday opposing Burton’s bill.
“Until kids are not kicked out of their house for being gay or transgender, and until kids are not beaten by parents for being gay or transgender, we owe it to kids to protect them. We believe Sen. Burton’s legislation would essentially destroy protected communications between a student and an educator…”

Still, sticking to their original argument, a member of the senator’s office denounced the organizations’ interpretation of the bill.

“This is an unfortunate interpretation,” chief of staff Elliot Griffin said on Friday. “I have no idea why they would draw that conclusion.”

As previously stated, the bill came in response to the new rule in the Fort Worth district about transgender students, banning staffers from revealing students’ transgender status to their parents.

As a result, Burton couldn’t understand how the district would be willing to divulge information to a third party if it was deemed necessary but keep parents with limited information on a “need to know” bases, reports state. Therefore, she proposed the bill to keep parents in the know. However, the information will only be offered if the parent asks for it.

According to The Chron, the state already have laws that give the parents the right to their child’s information, apparently, the bill clarifies those statues.

In fact, if a student reveals their sexuality to a school staffer or teacher, Burton’s bill does not tell them how to respond.

“We wouldn’t presume to tell an individual teacher what to do,” Elliot said. “If you (as a parent) call and ask about your child, you should have the expectation that the school isn’t going to withhold valuable information. It’s existing state law.”