Townhall has covered how Republican-led states like Florida and Virginia have put policies in place that keep parents in the loop on their child’s education, including if a child is choosing to go by a chosen name and preferred pronouns.
On the other hand, there are states like New York and California, led by Democrats, who plan to keep parents in the dark about what is going on with their children in schools. And, Townhall has covered how many school districts across the country have been exposed for pushing these kinds of policies, including in Colorado, Virginia, Kansas, and some areas of California. In May, a school district in Cincinnati, Ohio was exposed for instructing teachers to report child abuse to protective services if a “transgender” student’s parents are not supportive of their gender identity.
This week, news broke that state lawmakers in Wisconsin approved a bill on Thursday that would protect parents’ rights in education. However, Democrat Gov. Tony Evers is expected to veto it.
The Wisconsin State Assembly passed the measure 62-35, sending it to the state Senate. If it goes through, Evers is likely to veto the proposal, according to CBS News. In 2022, Evers vetoed a similar proposal (via CBS News):
The bill would guarantee parents a host of rights, including the right to determine the pronouns their children are known by at school.
The bill also would give parents the right to pull their children out of class based on religious reasons or personal convictions. They would have a right to be told of any surveys or evaluations that would reveal their or their children's political leanings, sexual behavior or illegal behavior; any vaccinations the school offers; and whenever a "controversial subject" such as gender identity, sexual orientation or racism will be discussed. Parents could sue schools that violate those rights.
"There may be a topic around gender identity, there may be a topic around systemic racism," Wisconsin Rep. Robert Wittke, a Republican who led the bill, said in a press conference. "Families want to know when their children are going to be exposed to those topics, so that they can have a reasonable way to work with their students and not have everything just come out of the classroom."
Predictably, Democrat lawmakers pushed back against the bill, calling it “extremist” and “hateful.”
"We're going to continue to push back against these hateful bills that are against our transgender and non-binary students,” Democrat Rep. Melissa Ratcliffe told WKOW.
"It's garbage. It's an attack on trans folks. It's anti civil rights, and it's an attack on students and on teachers," Rep. Ryan Clancy (D) added. "This is actually the fifth anti-trans bill or some version of it that we've seen this session, and it's really a distraction from the work that we shouldn't be taking on making lives better for Wisconsinites."
Polls have shown that Americans support schools keeping parents in the loop about their children's curriculum and gender identity, even in states that are predominantly Democrat.