JACKSON, Miss. – A bill approved by the Mississippi House tasks teachers with grading parents, and imposes a set of action on schools that earn a C or below on state academic evaluations.

Democrat state Rep. Gregory Holloway introduced the “Parent Involvement and Accountability Act” to gauge parental involvement in students’ education by requiring teachers to grade their responsiveness to teacher communications, students’ homework completion and preparedness for tests, and frequency of student absences or tardiness, Watchdog.org reports.

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“My initial reaction is, this is absurd,” Mary Clare Reim, research associate for the Heritage Foundation, told the news site. “The concept that parents should be graded by teachers on their involvement is a reversal of what the education system should look like. Parents should be grading teachers on their performance. Putting grades on parental involvement from the top down is not the way this should work.”

The legislation, approved by the Republican-controlled House by a vote of 75-43, also imposes numerous mandates on public schools that receive an overall academic score of “C” or worse on the Mississippi Department of Education’s annual assessment. Last year, 88 out of 151 school districts in the state fell into that category.

Watchdog reports the legislation would require struggling schools to:

  • Assign each child mandatory homework.
  • Require all children be taught proper manuscript and cursive handwriting.
  • Require all children to have a daily reading and a separate writing assignment.
  • Require all children to read at least one book per month and write a book report on it.
  • Mandate participation for parents in at least one supportive function for the school, such as assisting at the bus stop, working a concession stand at an athletic event or serving in the Parent Teacher Association.
  • Establish dress codes for teachers.
  • Mandate school uniforms.
  • Initiate two parent-teacher conferences per nine-week term for students not performing up to grade level requirements at mid-term.

The legislation, also known as House Bill 4, now moves to the state Senate, where its fate is unclear.

Parents and others who commented about the legislation online were clearly not impressed with the approach.

“So if parents don’t make the ‘grade’ what are they going to do, fail the kids?” Patty Murphy Lee questioned.

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“It’s a move to get more funding, parents will be fined and property taken in the extreme,” commenter “cwal” wrote. “This has nothing to do with our children’s education, If a teacher and its administration cannot teach a child, what do they expect to accomplish with an adult?”

“Then parents should get to grade teachers and politicians too,” A_Gobshite wrote.

“And I just graded Mississippi’s House with an F,” Thoughtcriminal posted. “Tell your kids to jump into every mud hole they can find at recess. Take pictures of them being … dropped off in clean clothes, and pictures of them coming home filthy. Sue the school for neglect.”