The Problem
Parents play a fundamental role in their children’s education, but a lack of transparency from school districts makes it difficult for them to stay informed. Too often, parents struggle to determine how well their children’s schools are performing, how taxpayer dollars are being spent, and what is being taught in the classroom. School districts often make it financially prohibitive for parents to access the information they need to hold schools accountable.
The Solution
The fundamental right of parents to participate in and direct the education of their children should be affirmed in state law with the adoption of a parents’ bill of rights. The parents’ bill of rights would require districts to provide parents with clear information about what is happening in their children’s schools.
Key Facts
- In 2025, the Heritage Foundation ranked Missouri 45th in educational transparency among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.
- Sunshine Law requests sent in recent years by the Show-Me Institute seeking curriculum information from Missouri schools and districts were often ignored or met with demands for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of dollars to process the requests.
Which Rights Should Be Included in Statute?
At a minimum, parents should have:
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The right to know what Missouri schools are teaching.
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The right to know how Missouri schools are performing.
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The right to know how Missouri schools are spending taxpayer money.
- The right to choose the educational option that works best for their children.
- The right to know their children’s physical and mental health and to be informed when concerns arise. This includes, but is not limited to, the right to opt out of health measures not required by state law.
Public Schooling in Partnership with Parents
Schooling works best when parents and educators work together. However, school district policies increasingly undermine such cooperation through a lack of transparency. Missouri’s Sunshine Law is intended to ensure openness in public agencies, yet many school districts routinely claim that fulfilling Sunshine Law requests is prohibitively expensive, then pass those inflated costs on to the requester. This practice effectively blocks Missourians from accessing important information, such as which curriculum materials are being used in their local schools. There is also a growing trend among public schools to withhold information about student health from parents.
The state needs to take action to expand access to information among parents. School districts that fail to comply should be subject to meaningful financial and administrative penalties. Transparency and accountability in local government, including schools, should not be optional. The law must have strong, unambiguous consequences attached to violations of its provisions.
Policy Recommendations
- Pass a parents’ bill of rights into law so that schools and districts understand the rights and expectations of the parents and taxpayers who fund their operations.
- Ensure that the law includes “teeth” —real consequences for violations—so that it isn’t seen merely as a set of recommendations that can be violated without penalty by school districts.
