Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) is hoping to give Illinois parents and students an easier way out of a new state law requiring students between grades 3 and 12 to undergo a mental health screening once a year.
On July 31, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed the first-of-its-kind SB1560 into law, and it will go into effect in the 2027-2028 school year, after the Illinois State Board of Education creates guidance and policies for schools to implement. While parents will have the ability to opt their children out, many, along with other experts, have expressed concern about government overreach and the potential for false positives.
As a remedy, Rep. Miller is expected to reintroduce her bill on Friday, called the Parents Opt-In Protection Act, Breitbart News has learned exclusively. The bill would require prior written consent from a parent or guardian, or from the student if the student is an adult or an emancipated minor, before a school could administer a survey about a student’s sensitive personal information.
“J.B. Pritzker’s plan to impose invasive ‘mental health screenings’ on kids, forcing parents to jump through hoops to opt out, is ridiculous and unacceptable,” Miller told Breitbart News. “My bill will put parents back in charge by requiring written consent before these screenings happen.”
Democrat Illinois State Sen. Laura Fine, who sponsored the mental health screening bill, said, per Fox News, that the screenings would be “designed to catch the early signs of anxiety, depression or trauma before it becomes a crisis or, in some cases, sometimes too late.”
But Republicans in the state have raised concerns about parental rights and even insurance fallout.
“Universal mental health screenings are going to get us nothing except possibly finding things, finding reasons for denial of coverage of insurance,” state Rep. Steve Reick (R) said.
Rep. Adam Niemerg (R) called the law “a very dangerous piece of legislation that removes parental rights.”
Journalist Abigail Shrier, who authored Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up and Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, contended that the policy “will do vastly more harm than good.”
“Watch as tens of thousands of Illinois kids get shoved into the mental health funnel and convinced they are sick. Many or most of which will be false positives,” Shrier said in a post to X.
Miller’s bill would specifically revise the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), which governs the administration to students of a survey, analysis, or evaluation related to any of the eight protected areas, including topics like religious beliefs, political affiliations, and sex behavior or attitudes. Miller’s office noted that PPRA does not currently specify that consent must be written.
Parents Opt-In Protection Act of 2025 by Breitbart News
The legislation would ultimately require local educational agencies to update their student privacy policies to specify that students are not required to submit a survey without prior written consent.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) is cosponsoring the legislation with Miller. Several conservative and parental rights organizations also support the bill, including the American Principles Project, Parents Defending Education Action, Moms for America, Parental Rights Foundation, Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America, and Alliance Defending Freedom.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
Read the full article here