In Iowa, Redefined Obscenity, Forced Outing, And Retraining Sessions
At Forbes.com, I take a look at a newly-proposed bill that includes some startling new versions of the same old right-tilted ideas, from a governor who’s unabashedly anti-public education.
Senate Study Bill 1145 was proposed last week in Iowa. The bill broadens the rules for censorship, requires staff to report to parents if they see any students questioning their own gender identity, and uses fines on districts to finance retraining of teachers who fail to comply with the law.
Some features of the bill are, by now, familiar. The bill calls for a civics test, and full curriculum transparency. Also, a blanket ban for kindergarten through third grade, forbidding a district to provide “any program, curriculum, material, test, survey, questionnaire, activity, announcement, promotion, or instruction of any kind relating to gender identity or sexual activity.”
The bill is supported by Governor Kim Reynolds, who recently told a Moms for Liberty gathering that there is a need “to restore sanity, to make sure our schools are a place of learning and not indoctrination.” She accused “the radical left” of treating students like “their personal property,” and believing that patriotism is racist and pornographic books are education.
Iowa Mental Health Advocacy Co-Founder Leslie Carpenter responded to the new bill, saying those trying to ban certain topics and discussions may believe they are protecting children, but the exact oppositive will happen and student suicides could rise.
But three provisions go above and beyond the standard fare.