The Georgia House of Representatives passed the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act on Thursday.
This act will give parents school vouchers of up to $6,500 per student. The vouchers would help students in low-performing districts receive funds to expand school choice options or purchase curricula for homeschooling.
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Georgia school teachers and counselors will continue to have free reign to talk to students about gender and gender identity issues without having to notify parents.
In a setback to supporters of parental rights, SB 88, also known as the Parents and Children Protection Act of 2023, missed the opportunity to advance legislation meant to restrict the ability of teachers and counselors to discuss gender issues without parental oversight.
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Democrats in the Maine House voted down a bill Thursday that would have guaranteed the “fundamental right” of parents “to make decisions regarding the upbringing, education and well-being” of their children.
Maine Senate Democrats had also previously voted against the measure, LD 1800 (SP 725), titled “An Act Regarding Parental Rights in Education.”
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Florida’s legislative session will reconvene on Tuesday, and several GOP-backed bills are set to make their way to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk ahead of a possible 2024 campaign launch, according to Politico.
The Republican supermajority legislature will propose various conservative bills over the next two months, including legislation relating largely to education, along with other gun rights, immigration and death penalty proposals, Politico reported. These GOP-led efforts come before a likely presidential announcement by the governor to give him more legislative successes to campaign on, according to Politico.
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The Miami-Dade County Public Schools board has voted against a proposal to observe October as LGBTQ History Month, following the state’s recently enacted Parental Rights in Education law that prohibiting K through third-grade teachers giving lessons on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”
The measure – which critics and others frequently refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill – was signed into law in March by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
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Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office filed a 60-page motion Monday arguing that U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor should dismiss a case filed by LGBTQ-advocacy groups Equality Florida and Family Equality related to the Parental Rights in Education legislation.
The law (HB 1557) prevents instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and requires that such instruction be “age-appropriate … in accordance with state academic standards” in older grades.
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office called the provisions of the bill a “modest limitation … neutrally allowing all parents, no matter their views, to introduce those sensitive topics to their children as they see fit.”
Monday’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit raised a series of arguments, including that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing and that the state has the right to set curriculums for public schools. It also took issue with the “Don’t Say Gay” moniker.
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The recently passed Parental Rights in Education bill has Florida school districts scrambling to change policies and remove books that might violate the provisions of the legislation.
Notably, the Palm Beach Post reported that Palm Beach County school officials are ending the use of the “Genderbread Person” infographic. The infographic was used to explain the differences between anatomical sex, gender expression, gender identity, sexual attraction and romantic attraction.
Palm Beach Schools Superintendent Mike Burke said the infographic was “problematic because it gave the impression that we were targeting a younger audience” ……I’m not sure it was the most valuable piece of our curriculum.”
Part of the process in Palm Beach included sending questionnaires to teachers seeking information about materials used in classroom activities. If the questionnaire revealed potential violations, teachers were asked to send the material to school officials for review.
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Disney is known as the “happiest place on Earth.” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo could not disagree more.
Rufo, who has done extensive reporting on Critical Race Theory (CRT), launched the “Drop Disney” campaign against the company earlier this month over the company’s opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, as well as its CRT trainings and promotion of gender ideology in children’s programming. Rufo’s goal is to instruct conservatives to “stop giving money to people who hate you,” and involves boycotting the company’s services and products.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was a featured guest with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro and participated in a Q&A segment. In it, DeSantis tells some of the back story behind the recently signed Parental Rights in Education bill as well as deriding Californians for their main export being ideology.
DeSantis specifically pointed out the number of California companies who are moving to states like Texas and Florida and who are bringing their employees with them.
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Brandy Vance, a Leon County school teacher at J. Michael Conley Elementary School at Southwood, is not happy about the Parental Rights in Education bill and she recently took to Facebook to voice her concerns.
The Parental Rights in Education bill, which was recently signed into law, contains a provision that “prohibits a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
Vance posted a 220 word explanation of her position related to issue with a picture of herself dressed in LGBTQ supportive attire on Conley Elementary school grounds.
The post included below, appears to have been removed from Facebook.
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The Twitter account known as Libs of Tik Tok featured a video of a Florida first-grade teacher bemoaning how she can possibly proceed with teaching the six-year-olds in her class when the state’s new Parental Rights in Education Act prevents her from discussing personal details about her “marriage” to a “trans-fem person.”
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An analysis of news articles published by journalists in the Tallahassee Democrat between February 9th and March 11th show that reporters repeatedly used the term “Don’t Say Gay” slogan when writing about the Parental Rights in Education bill.
The analysis shows that the “Don’t Say Gay” term was used over 6 times more than the title of the bill, “Parental Rights in Education” in news articles.
The “Don’t Say Gay” slogan was adopted by opponents of the Parental Rights in Education bill. Supporters of the bill have argued the slogan mischaracterizes the legislation.
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Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani has been a vocal critic of the the Parental Rights in Education bill, however – when given the opportunity – she refused to answer specific questions about the proposed legislation.
Eskamani told CNN that she “whole-heartedly opposes” the legislation, affirming that “it’s always appropriate to acknowledge that LGBTQ+ people and families exist, and any effort to erase them is rooted in homophobia and transphobia.”
Eskamani and other progressive leaders and organizations have labeled the proposal the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, based on a provision that prohibits a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels.
State Representative Carlos Guillermo-Smith (D-District 49), an openly LGBTQ Latino legislator, said, “We should and we are encouraging these types of conversations in our schools.”
However, the bill address a number of issues related to parental rights.
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