Opt-in vs opt-out: The parental rights debate over the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Where do you land as a parent: opt in vs. opt out?

The article below is about a recent Douglas County school board decision about participation in the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey. This is a survey that, quoting the article, includes topics such as “… physical activity, mental health, tobacco and substance use, and school safety and bullying. The high school survey includes demographic questions about sexual orientation, sexual health and sexual violence questions.” It also has questions on teens’ perceived access to guns.

The board didn’t vote to not participate, they moved the decision to take it from opt in to opt out. Going forward, parents will have to allow their students to participate rather than remembering and opting their students out.

There is a whole lot going on in the article. I was not a huge fan of how the board handled this.

I would have preferred more advance notice to allow more participation, even if it was by people I disagreed with (a good idea is a good idea and can withstand opposition).

I was also not too jazzed about how the reporter and one of the dissenting voices on the school board characterized the usefulness and validity of the survey results (for more context on that, see a previous newsletter linked second below).

Neither of these are the main point for this post, however. The main point is to ponder the following: what do you prefer as a parent, opting into such a survey or opting out?

If you have strong enough feelings to want to add to the comments, please feel free. There are reasonable arguments to be made for either (as you can see above in the image heading this post–a copy from a research site about opt in vs. opt out surveys).

I have to say I do agree with the Douglas County School Board’s decision to make this survey opt in. The older I get the less I’m swayed by arguments running along the lines of “the ability to opt out gives people the ability to not participate and opting in will increase participation rates”.

Part of the reason is that I’m now a father and being a parent changes everything. Part of the reason is the fact that these surveys have limited value in my opinion outside of something for academics to mull (see again my newsletter second below). Part of the reason is related to being a parent, but it has to do with general busy-ness.

You see, the older I get, the more hats I have to wear. I have a mortgage. I have lots of bills to manage. I have a full time job with people needing lots of my attention. I am a husband. I am a father. That’s a lot.

To have to track what my child is taught, to have to track what surveys they want my child to take, is burdensome. I might have every intent to track what they’re asking, but it is so SO easy for things to get lost in the shuffle.

Having to opt in, as opposed to having to remember and then opt out, provides a handy built in check. It requires my attention, and if I don’t happen to give it (for whatever reason) it fails safe. It defaults to nothing happening, an outcome with low cost.

I don’t know if I’m comfortable saying that opt in is guaranteed to always be the best option, but when it comes to my child, when it comes to low-value, intrusive surveys, I can say it is.

What do you think?

https://www.cpr.org/2025/09/11/douglas-county-parent-permission-youth-health-survey

https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/academic-frippery-open-fields-doctrine?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.