PJI: California AG's Opinion Disrespects Parents' Rights, Strips Schools' Discretion
by Allie Martin
December 6, 2004
(AgapePress) - California's attorney general has issued an opinion claiming that a school district is forbidden to provide prior notice to parents or to require parental consent when a student leaves school to obtain "confidential medical services."According to Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, a number of lawsuits have been filed against school districts that have allowed students to obtain confidential medical services such as abortions, sterilizations, plastic surgery, gender reassignment (sex-change operations), or other procedures. Yet in the advisory opinion published recently by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the public official alleges that school districts may not legally provide prior notice to parents or require parental consent for such procedures.
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Brad Dacus |
But Dacus says Lockyer's opinion goes against state law. Moreover, he believes the AG's opinion fails to address the most critical aspects of the California statute that specifically discuss the issue of confidential medical release. The PJI president says the statute requires that school districts may excuse students to leave campus for confidential medical purposes without their parents' consent -- but the law does not say that the schools must do so.Nor, the attorney points out, does anything in the law prevent individual school districts from enacting their own policies requiring prior notification and parental consent, contrary to Lockyer's erroneous assertion. Still, he says the AG's stance is not surprising, since "Bill Lockyer is known for being a politician first and an attorney general second. So it really didn't surprise many of us, because the extreme left part of the Democratic Party is very much a controlling factor, we believe, of what he does." Still, PJI's spokesman insists that Lockyer's advisory statement is not legally binding on any California school district.
"His opinion is not backed by statute or credible case law precedents," Dacus says. "We are disappointed with his opinion, and we at the Pacific Justice Institute are encouraging school districts in California as well as across the country not to be intimidated by these opinions that are non-binding, and instead to adopt policies that are respectful to the rights of parents."
Dacus feels Lockyer's opinion ignores evidence clearly indicating that the California legislature intended to leave the decision about student releases for confidential medical services up to individual school districts. PJI has pledged to defend in court any district that has a policy requiring parental consent or prior notice before a child is allowed to leave campus for medical treatment.
