California's school clinics may circumvent parents

Democrat Davis Looks to Enact by Fiat What He Feared to Sign as Law

Ventura, Calif-In early October, Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis vetoed AB (Assembly Bill) 1363, a hard-- left attempt to circumvent the authority of parents and to expand the purse and power of California's school-based health clinics. Conservatives, naturally, claimed victory.

"California parents will be able to sleep better tonight knowing that their rights will not be egregiously violated by the implementation of this dangerous legislation," cheered Janet Parshall of the Family Research Council.

But the victory was only temporary. In a classic example of Davis's now-familiar triangulation strategy, the governor may well be planning to carry out the substance of the same bill he was too embarrassed to sign into law.

"We are pleased with what happened," an aide to Susan Davis, AB 1363's sponsor, told HUMAN EVENTS. The bill itself was an "attention-getter," the "intent" of which can be "implemented administratively rather than legislatively," she said. "The story is that the issue is still alive:' said Steve Baldwin, a Costa Mesa assemblyman who spearheaded efforts to spike the bill. Gov. Davis's "veto gets the headline, so that makes all the conservatives happy," 'said Baldwin, "but quietly he implements the same dam thing behind people's backs."

Davis has delayed a final decision on administrative implementation of the bill until next year, giving the heat surrounding the issue time to dissipate. According to Baldwin, the conservative opposition-whipped up by radio broadcasts from Et Laura Schlessinger and Dr. James Dobson-- had in the days before the veto crippled Davis's office with a campaign of faxes, phone calls and e-mails.

But conservatives should not hold their breath, said Karen Holgate, a regional director for the Capitol Resource Center. "Even if [Davis] finds out he can't do [AB 1363] administratively," she said, there is always recourse to executive order.

Psychological Counseling

Holgate, who monitored AB 1363 from its inception, describes the plan as shockingly insidious, using federal monies to expand and empower already dubious K-12 school-based health clinics so that they can intrude into the lives of state school children in everything from "weight control and acne7' to depression and pelvic examinations, not to mention "reproductive services," without first acquiring substantive parental consent.

Substantive is the key word, stressed Holgate. AB 1363 sponsor Susan Davis (D.) has used the fig leaf of nominal parental consent to defend her bill. "Me opposition has not been able to cite one clinic in California which does not require parental consent," Assemblywoman Davis complained. But, in fact, these clinics require parental consent only once at the beginning of the year, not for each clinic visit, rendering the consent largely worthless.

"She is being very clever, but she is basically lying," said Baldwin. Parents "have no clue what is going on," he said, noting cases where "school districts have been referring kids for psychological counseling without the parents knowing about it." Added Holgate, "Basically parents have the right to be told they have no rights."

For Baldwin, as for many conservatives in the state, the issue is not simply parental rights, it is also the absurd liberal scheme to have schools double as hospital wards. "Why are we using our schools as a health-care delivery point when we can't even teach our kids to read? We are near bottom in the country in math and reading. And yet we want to enter the health-care market?"

Meanwhile, Baldwin is preparing to counter Gov. Davis's likely administrative end-around. "We are going to go after him in court," he said. "If we find that they are violating parental rights on a regular basis, we have lawyers lined up to go against them." And if that fails? "We are going to have to have an initiative one day that really clears it up-that makes it clear that the fascists running our school districts do not have control over our children."

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Nov 12, 1999
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