"There are races for your local school boards in those states, but also your state board of education is actually an elected office in those two states," said Meg Kilgannon of Family Research Council (FRC) on the
Washington Watch program. "One of the reasons that this is important at the state level is because of issues like social emotional learning and what is your sex education curriculum? What are your standards of education regarding social studies and English language?"
All of those kinds of policies are set at the state level.
"So, who is making those policies is very important," Kilgannon continued. "Do they share your worldview? Are they Christians? Are they conservatives? Do they believe that parents are the fundamentally first educators of children? These are things that you want to find out and that there are so many important issues facing our kids today and these folks on these boards have a really meaningful impact in people's lives."
In its coverage of the Kansas and Nebraska races, The Associated Press said the following:
"At issue are familiar efforts by conservative Republicans and groups to limit what public K-12 schools can teach about racism, diversity, sexuality and gender. But also up for debate are skill-building lessons that conservatives reject as social engineering."
Sometimes “skill building” can be loosely defined in a classroom setting.
Last week a federal court in Pennsylvania ruled that three parents in the Pittsburgh suburb Mt. Lebanon had a “constitutional right” to know about transgender topics being discussed in their children’s elementary classroom.
The district has an “opt out” policy in place for what it considers sensitive topics. In the past it has sent home “opt out” letters should parents wish that their children not participate for a therapy dog visit or for discussions during religious holidays, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Trans teaching on the sly
However, classroom teacher Megan Williams did not inform parents she would be reading two transgender-themed books to their children.
Responding to this on Washington Watch, Kilgannon said, "They are only happy when liberals are in charge of children's education."
