The importance of race and gender issues regarding school policy depends on who you ask.

For Republicans, transparency by their elected officials on what’s being taught or available in their child’s school is a major issue. The parental focus on curriculum is reflected in a recent Gallup poll that showed Americans’ confidence in K-12 education dropped from 46 percent to 42 percent this year.

States like Florida, Alabama and Tennessee have already moved to limit certain topics from being taught, or have passed legislation that gives parents advance notice of when issues will come up in the curriculum.

A Pennsylvania Senate Committee recently held a public hearing on a proposed parental Bill of Rights sponsored by Republican gubernatorial nominee Sen. Doug Mastriano that would determine whether or not to limit teachings related to sex, gender and race in schools. The legislation would prohibit public schools, charter schools and cyber charter schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Emotions ran high at that hearing.

Megan Brock, a Bucks County mother, warned that parental rights are still under attack in Pennsylvania. She took aim at the ACLU argument that teachers have a right to keep secrets with students from their parents, referring to a policy of not alerting parents if a child wants to use pronouns different from their gender at birth.

“This is dangerous to students and parents and it needs to be stopped,” she warned.

Maria Ault, a mother in the Southern Lehigh School District, said it was through Zoom classes that parents learned how their children were being indoctrinated with racial division. She wondered why schools are focusing so much on race and gender instead of excellent-quality education.

“We saw the incorporation of gender ideologies that do not align with scientific facts and were against absolute truth by lying to the students that a boy can be a girl and a girl can be a boy,” she said.

The parents have faced opposition. The Pennsylvania State Education Association does not support the legislation and the ACLU filed a lawsuit earlier this month over the issue, alleging LGBT discrimination. Chris Lilienthal, assistant director of communications of PSEA, stated that the legislation does not promote the close working relationships between parents and educators.

Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which reinforces parents’ fundamental rights to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children, was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis last March. It prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade and requires school districts to adopt procedures for notifying parents if there is a change in services from the school regarding a child’s mental, emotional or physical health or well-being.

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls said the government should never take the place of a parent, and that it should be up to the parent to decide if and when to introduce these sensitive topics.

“Only fanatics think the classroom curriculum from kindergarten through 3rd grade should include teaching little children about gender identity,” he said.

Lieutenant Gov. Jeanette Nunez said the bill refuses to allow school boards and teachers unions the ability to hide information about students from their parents. This spring, Florida lawmakers required school districts to take additional steps to ensure that parents have full information about health services, library materials, sex education curriculum and certain other programs.

While DeSantis was praised by conservatives for raising the alarm about critical race theory in schools, he received backlash from LGBTO advocates and sparked an instate feud with The Walt Disney Company.

Some conservatives, however, felt that the Florida bill does not go far enough. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently left the Democratic Party, argued that the bill should have been more expansive, stating that instead of kindergarten to grade 3, the legislation should encompass students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

It’s paramount that parents have a fundamental right to make decisions regarding the upbringing of their children, and schools should not be keeping important information from them regarding a child’s well-being, whether, mental, emotional or physical.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com