The Iowa House and Senate are looking to restrict certain curriculum within public and charter schools.
Senate File 159 bans gender identification and sexual orientation from being taught in kindergarten through eighth grade. District 24 Senator Jesse Green (R-Boone) says this topic is also being discussed in the House and at more length. He believes this topic has been mostly addressed when the new Students First Act was signed into law, which allows parents to use the state allocated per pupil funding for their child to go to a private school. Green shares his personal opinion on this topic.
“I’ve seen some studies that show that within the last ten years there’s almost a doubling of percentage of students that identify as trans(gendered). This population is definitely increasing within our schools, and I think to some people that’s startling. Is it appropriate, especially in the younger age groups to even be talking about those issues. There’s some many boundaries that we do put on kids that are of younger age, shouldn’t this be also something that we put some boundaries around?”
Another component of the Senate bill is that if a parent files a complaint against the school district, the district has 30 days to remedy it or face between a $10,000 and $50,000 fine. Green was unable to give his opinion on this portion of the bill, since the legislation is still in committee and not yet eligible to debate on the floor. Click the link below to see the bill.