Parental Rights and Local Control Are Under Attack - And I’m Fighting Back

“Voters’ choice.” You’ve probably heard that phrase used over and over in this session to justify sweeping, top-down legislation at the State Capitol. But here’s the truth: the majority party only defends “voters’ choice” when it advances their agenda. When it comes to parental rights and local control, those same voices are quick to override the will of voters and communities across Colorado.

Two bills this session - HB25-1309 and HB25-1312 - are clear and dangerous examples of how the Legislature is dismantling parental authority and local autonomy under the guise of progress.

HB25-1309: Stripping Away Parents’ Say in School Curricula

This bill effectively eliminates school board discretion over how comprehensive sexual education is taught in classrooms and cuts parents out of the conversation. It mandates what must be taught and how it must be taught and shuts down school districts that might want to reflect the values of their local communities. In Douglas County and Castle Rock, our school boards were elected to represent local priorities - yet HB25-1309 tells them: you have no say.

Even more alarming, this bill treats concerned parents as obstacles to be managed, not partners in their child’s education. It disregards the notion that parents - not bureaucrats or legislators - are the primary decision-makers for their children’s upbringing and values.

HB25-1312: A Parent’s Right to Know - Denied, Criminalized, and Weaponized

HB25-1312 doesn’t just cut parents out of critical conversations about their child’s identity - it sets the stage for something even more disturbing: criminalizing parents for disagreeing with how schools or outside counselors define or affirm a child’s identity. Under this bill’s framework, if a parent uses the name or pronouns their child was given at birth - what the bill calls “misgendering” - it could be treated as harmful or abusive behavior.

This creates a dangerous precedent.

Parents could be investigated, reported, or even lose custody of their child simply for disagreeing with a school counselor or for using a name they’ve used since birth. In families already navigating complex custody disputes, HB25-1312 provides a new legal weapon to accuse one parent of “emotional harm” based solely on gender language - language often grounded in the parent’s conscience, religion, or sincere concern for their child’s well-being.

This bill removes parental knowledge and invites the state to replace parental judgment with the assumptions of bureaucrats. It makes gender identity issues more likely to be weaponized in legal battles, and it builds a legal framework where loving, concerned parents are treated as threats for not conforming to government-approved language or ideology.

HB25-1312 does not protect children - it isolates them, divides families, and injects the heavy hand of the state into the most personal, sensitive, and complex dynamics a family can face. It’s one more step toward erasing parental rights altogether, and I won’t stay silent while that happens.

I Was Elected to Defend You - Not to Dismiss You

As your State Representative, I will continue to fight tirelessly to protect the authority of parents and the autonomy of our local schools and governments. Whether it's at the committee table, on the House floor, or in meetings with fellow lawmakers, I will raise my voice against the encroachment of state overreach that ignores your family, your vote, and your values.

If the majority wants to use “voters’ choice” as a slogan, then I’m going to hold them to it. Because the voters in Castle Rock, Douglas County, and communities like ours chose to be heard. They chose local leaders who reflected their principles. They chose to raise their children according to their own values.

I won’t stop fighting until those choices are honored - not erased.