A bill made it out of a Senate Education subcommittee that would expand on a previous bill to ban a certain topic from being in a public school classroom.

District 24 Senator Jesse Green says Senate File 2003 would essentially exclude gender theory and sexual orientation in grades 7th-12th, which similar legislation was signed into law in 2023, but for kindergarten through sixth grade. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that there were conversations swirling around the first bill of where to set the grade levels, but he believes that gender theory and sexual orientation shouldn’t be allowed in a public school classroom at any grade level.

“In this school choice era as well, I think when it comes to some of these divisive topics, you should always lean on the side of parental control over sensitive topics and trying to create uniformity in educational content within the k-12 system. And always focus on core academic subjects. I don’t think that’s different in k-6 versus k-12.”       

Senator Green explains how these topics have changed in his own Senate District since his tenure as a lawmaker.

“When I first got elected, I would hear about these issues more bubble up around the district. But the last couple of years, it has tampered down quite a bit.”

Opponents of the bill say that it is an attack on the LGBTQ+ community and creates issues for those students within schools. The previous bill remains in the courts, which Senator Green expects this bill that he proposed to possibly follow the same path if it is signed into law.