This senator wants to make sure kids can walk to school alone without getting picked up by the cops


Earlier this year, the Meitiv family of Silver Spring, Maryland made national news when their two children were picked up by police — twice — for walking down the street by themselves. Danielle and Alexander Meitiv practice free-range parenting, which focuses on giving children real freedom and responsibility as they mature.
Now, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has introduced an amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act which would give children the right to walk to and from school with their parents' permission without fear of being stopped by police like the Meitiv kids were:
SEC. 9116. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING TRAVEL TO AND FROM SCHOOL...(a) IN GENERAL. — Subject to subsection (b), nothing in this Act shall authorize the Secretary to, or shall be construed to (1) prohibit a child from traveling to and from school on foot or by car, bus, or bike when the parents of the child have given permission; or (2) expose parents to civil or criminal charges for allowing their child to responsibly and safely travel to and from school by a means the parents believe is age appropriate...."Notwithstanding subsection (a), nothing in this section 15 shall be construed to preempt State or local laws." [Every Child Achieves Act]
The bill has passed the Senate and now will see its House and Senate versions undergo reconciliation, a process Lee's amendment will have to survive to become law.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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