What will this bill do?

• The original bill (now amended) would have established that:

  • A parent possesses a fundamental liberty interest in the care, custody, and management of the parent's child and, at all times, retains a vital interest in preventing the irretrievable destruction of family life.

  • It is in the best interest and welfare of a child to be raised under the care and supervision of the child's parents.

  • A child's need for a normal family life in a permanent home and for positive, nurturing family relationships usually is best met by the child's parents.

  • The integrity of the family unit and the right of a parent to conceive, raise, manage, train, educate, and reasonably discipline the parent's child should be constitutionally protected.

  • The right of a fit, competent parent to raise the parent's child without undue government interference is a fundamental liberty interest and is fundamental public policy of this state.

  • The fundamental liberty interest of a parent is recognized, protected, and does not cease to exist simply because a parent may fail to be a model parent or because the parent's child is placed in the temporary custody of the state. There is a rebuttable presumption that a parent's decisions are in the parent's child's best interests.

  • A fundamentally fair process must be provided to a parent if the state moves to challenge or interfere with parental rights.

• The public policy of the state is that:

  • A parent retains the fundamental right and duty to exercise primary control over the care, supervision, upbringing, and education of the parent's child

  • A child has the right to protection from abuse and neglect; and
    The state retains a compelling interest in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing abuse and neglect.

  • The state's education systems are supportive and secondary to the primary role of a parent. The legislative assembly is the primary stakeholder in the establishment, maintenance, and success of the state's education systems. The department of public instruction is the primary stakeholder in the state's public education system. The board of a school district is a secondary stakeholder in the state's public education system.

HB 1362 was amended to

• Define "parent" as parent or legal guardian not including a school or other institution serving in loco parentis.

• Establish that it is the public policy of the state that:

  • A parent retains the right and duty to exercise primary control over the care, supervision, upbringing, and education of the parent's child

  • A child has the right to protection from abuse and neglect

  • The state retains a compelling interest in preventing, assessing, investigating, addressing, and prosecuting abuse and neglect.

Read the amended bill.

Why is this bill needed?

• Currently, in the ND State Constitution under Article VIII (Education), the word "parent" or isn't mentioned once. Our state constitution gives the power to the legislative assembly to establish, maintain, and provide schools. This wordage makes the legislative assembly the primary stakeholders in students' lives since it does not address the role of the parent. 

• Opposition to HB 1362 advocates for the term “in loco parentis’ which means “acting or done in the place of a parent’ instead of the term primary stakeholder.  Teachers are taught this language as they believe that when a child is dropped off at school, the teacher or administration becomes the acting parent and based on our laws, they have no reason to not believe that they can assume that position.

• In September of 2021, The National School Board Association tried to silence concerned parents by weaponizing the Department of Justice and the FBI against them. The association of legitimate protest with terrorism and violence reveals a contempt for parental authority as well as the extreme lengths those in power will go in order to silence any and all dissent. Internal memos show that the Biden Administration colluded with the NSBA in this effort to weaponize the full force of the FBI and Department of Justice against law-abiding citizens exercising their right to advocate for their children.

• National headlines such as the one from The Washington Post (“Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids’ school curriculum. They don’t.” ) reveal a pervasive and purposeful undermining of parental rights and responsibilities in the education of their children.

• There is a growing movement to make homeschooling appear dangerous and extreme. Some are even calling for an outright ban. Secular progressivists believe that the state's influence and values should be equal to or supersede those of parents.

• It is the state’s obligation to secure parental rights particularly as the medical establishment continues to become increasingly more ideologically-motivated. WPATH, the world’s leading association on transgender health, recently removed minimum age requirements for “gender-affirming care” and suggests that if parents do not affirm their child’s newly chosen identity, the state may be enabled to intervene in order to assist with the child’s medical and social transition.

How can I support this bill?

HB 1362 passed both chambers and will head to the Governor’s desk to be vetoed or signed into law.

Contact Governor Burgum’s office and urge him to sign HB 1362 into law.