In bid for governor, John James proposes ‘bill of rights’ for Michigan parents

Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James unveils parental ‘bill of rights’ proposing major changes to education, health laws
Plan calls for opting Michigan into federal tax credits that could be used to fund private school attendance
James proposes rolling back confidentiality protections minors can have in schools and medical settings

LANSING — Gubernatorial candidate John James wants Michigan to opt into a federal private school choice program and give parents expansive oversight of their children’s education and health care.

The Shelby Township Republican on Monday released a series of new policy proposals as part of what he’s calling a “bill of rights” for Michigan parents.

“Lansing politicians want to erode your authority as parents. I’m going to restore it,” James, who currently serves in the US House, said in a statement provided to Bridge Michigan ahead of release.

He argued parents have “constitutional rights to direct the care, teaching, education, moral or religious training and upbringing of their children without government burden” — a spin on a passage from Michigan’s central schooling law.

A “right to transparency and family privacy” in his plan would mean neither doctors nor teachers could keep information from parents about their children — including information about their gender identity or access to sexual health services.

Parents would be provided a legal right to review and approve the help children receive from school officials, the treatment they receive from their doctors and the apps they download online.

Related:

Leading James’ education proposals, though, is the ability for parents to use tax-funded scholarships to private schools.

James would have Michigan opt into President Donald Trump’s new federal scholarship tax credit he worked to pass as a member of the US House. The program allows parents to essentially be refunded up to $1,700 in donations they make to scholarship-granting nonprofits that help to pay for private school tuition or students’ educational expenses.

“John believes that giving parents access to the broadest array of educational options for their children enforces greater accountability in all our schools,” his campaign wrote in the policy plan.

Twenty-three states have since opted into the credit, which critics say represents the public funding of private education, given the private school scholarship donations reduce tax revenue that could be used to fund public schools.

Teachers unions have blasted the program as a “school voucher scheme.” James did not attend a forum Feb. 6 held by the Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union that traditionally helps fund Democratic candidates.

James is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination against a large field that includes Bloomfield Hills businessman Perry Johnson, former Attorney General Mike Cox, former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and others.

Several of the proposals James released Monday lean into the cultural wars that continue to play a major role in Republican politics and were a centerpiece of 2022 nominee Tudor Dixon’s gubernatorial campaign.

James wants to ban transgender girls from participating in girls sports, as Republican state lawmakers have moved to do, and block what he calls a “gender insanity agenda” by the State Board of Education, which in November recommended teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation.

The sexual education curriculum changes, approved by the state board last year amid contentious debate, remain optional for schools to adopt.

Many of James’ proposals would likely require action by the Michigan Legislature, where Republicans currently control the state House but Democrats have a narrow lead in the Senate. All seats in both chambers are up for election this fall.

Education reforms

James wants all K-12 schools to publicly post their curriculums online prior to the beginning of each academic year, and he proposes that any teacher’s “deviation” from curricula in lesson plans would be “subject to public disclosure” via the Freedom of Information Act.

“Parents retaining control of their children’s education should be the default position,” James’ campaign said of his education reforms.

In 2024, the Michigan Supreme Court declined to intervene in a lawsuit over the state’s public records law, which had argued public school teachers’ individual lesson plans and notes should be obtainable via a FOIA request — a strategy used by some activists to scrutinize what they see as objectionable teaching material.

A lower court had ruled those weren’t public records because the public body, a school district, never possessed them. Republican legislators had proposed a similar change in 2022 but the bill never made progress.

James’ plan also proposes “instruction on controversial subjects” should require parental notification and a voluntary opt-in — but which subjects would be deemed controversial or how that would be determined isn’t made clear. The same opt-in policy would apply to surveys and health screenings, too.

He also wants to require teachers to pass basic biology, civics, and economics exams to maintain teaching credentials, which currently can be renewed every five years by completing 150 hours of professional learning.

Confidentiality rollbacks

Information kids provide to school employees or medical professionals could no longer be withheld from parents under any circumstance, according to James’ plan.

Some Michigan school districts have opted to withhold information divulged to school officials about a student’s sexual or gender identity in order to avoid “outing” that student without their consent. Each district is able to adopt its own policy on the issue.

“It is not okay for adults to engage with other people’s minor children about their personal medical or sexual matters at school without parental consent,” the James campaign said in the policy blueprint, contending children’s interactions with school counselors should be held to the same standard as two workers in an office.

Under current Michigan law, teenagers can go to doctors for help with a pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection and receive care confidentially. James said parents should have access to their children’s full medical records, and he would push to “require parental consent for medical treatments for all minor children.”

Michigan children currently need a parent’s permission for abortions, vaccines, antidepressants and inpatient mental health treatment.

It’s unclear if access to full medical records might interfere with existing child abuse laws in Michigan which protect the identity of medical providers who report suspected abuse from being disclosed.

James is also joining a wave of recent calls in Michigan and elsewhere to clamp down on social media use by minors. Mirroring congressional legislation he introduced, James vowed to “hold digital app stores accountable for providing adult or age-restricted material to minors.”

Lawmakers in both parties and chambers of the Michigan legislature have put forward similar legislation seeking to restrict minors’ access to aspects of social media.