Yes, parents have rights in the education of their children. A few people may mutter: "But they have duties too." What I have found is that those in the know, or on the inside circles in education do know AND ENJOY these rights. But, they are not written down. This is unfair for the usually shy, trusting parents who first start seeing the need to advocate.
After a nearly half century of promoting parent rights there may finally be some breakthroughs to make parent rights more transparent. They need not be chiselled in stone on the townhall wall, but they should be prominent — on the school walls, library bulletin boards, in the students' daybooks etc.
Yesterday I read about Idaho, and sent this comment:
http://www.idahoednews.org/news/house-introduces-parents-bill-of-rights/#comment-188391
Transparent Parent Rights Long Overdue
Yes, many of the rights proposed are already there. But few parents really feel welcome in asserting them, even if they are well informed. Those who really benefit and enjoy their rights are usually parents in the professions, not your everyday parent. That is unfair. That is why this bill is a breakthrough and hopefully — eventually — these rights will be posted in all schools, hospitals, day care centers, government offices, etc.
What I would suggest, however, is that a working committee do more exploratory work on widening some of the rights, especially in education. With the Common Core Curriculum concerns being expressed it seems that parents have been quite excluded from what is being proposed.
I would suggest a look at this document that we compiled over 30 years ago when fads and experiments were the rage. http://genuine-education-reform-today.org/2010/04/06/parent-rights-and-their-childrens-education/
PS: I am from Canada. I wish you the best in this endeavour.
Today, I gained news of California's concrete proposals, based on research, to advance the parent cause.
This link to the 15pg report http://edsource.org/today/wp-content/uploads/Power-of-Parents-Feb-2014.pdf?utm_source=Parent-power+release+email+&utm_campaign=Parent+Power+Report+Release&utm_medium=email
I like this priority: "schools will be assessed as to how successful they are in working with parents.'
More later about California.