Keep School Materials Age-Appropriate

Parents in Sacramento County and school districts across the country are showing up in large numbers to testify at school board meetings about curriculum, secret clubs, books and other resources in school libraries that are age-inappropriate. 

How can you tell the content is not OK for young kids?

The answer comes when parents are not allowed to read books found in school libraries out loud at school board meetings because the content is obscene or pornographic. We see it time after time. Parents obtain books from their child’s school library and attempt to read excerpts that have explicit images and content that normalizes sexual activity, even guiding students to meet ups with potential predators.

It seems too shocking to believe, but it’s true. And the Democrats’ response, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, is to accuse parents of book banning and censorship.

Democrats won’t even tolerate Dr. Seuss or other classics such as Gone With The Wind because they think the subject matters will traumatize kids. Somehow former generations survived these books, but now they’re being cancelled. Imagine if parents demanded that the Tuttle Twin’s book series be included in their kid’s library? How about using former Governor Huckaby’s “Kids Guide” for children’s books? Then kids could check out the “Kids Guide to President Trump”.  Can’t you just hear the screams for banning these books? 

Republican State Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh has been working with the California Policy Center to move legislation that has a common sense solution to this serious issue. SB 1435 says if books cannot be read or displayed on network television, radio airwaves, or in our school board meetings, they have no place in the classrooms. 

Lance Christensen, a great advocate for parental rights and kid-centered policies, is calling on all California parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others who care about kids, to contact the Senate Education Committee by Friday, April 12th to demand an “aye” vote on SB 1435.

For background, Christensen said, “Some advocates are concerned that SB 1435 initially deals with grades PK – 8th and is silent on high schools. After much consideration, Sen. Ochoa Bogh decided to start with an age cohort that no reasonable person could disagree with and get a hearing on the bill, rather than be denied the opportunity for legislative debate as has happened with other bills.”

“With how hostile the California state legislature has been to the rights of parents and the innocence of children, we believe using the Federal Communication Commission’s standard for obscenity, based upon the 1973 Miller v. California U.S. Supreme Court precedent as a backdrop, will provide much-needed guidance to school boards and school administrators seeking to ensure that obscene and harmful material are not introduced in California’s classrooms and libraries. SB 1435 references the Penal Code sections that already prohibit obscene and harmful material in other areas of life.”

Show Up! Speak Up!

Attend the hearing on Wednesday, April 17. The Senate Education Committee will begin at 9am and meets in Room 2100 of the Swing Space Offices (1021 O Street, across from the Capitol). Learn more.

Write or call members of the Committee: Send a letter from you personally or your organization by NOON this Friday, April 12th through the Legislative Portal for the Senate Education Committee’s consideration. 

Copy your state legislators when you contact members of the Committee. If you are not sure who your legislators are, you can use CPC’s “CONTACT YOUR REP” tool here. 

Talking Points Provided By CA Policy Center (CPC):

You can find a link to the bill on CPC’s Take Action Page and their letter of support here. You may also consider a related piece Lance wrote for his monthly Epoch Times column or pick from the following talking points:

1.  Californians generally agree that books and curriculum in our public schools should be age-appropriate and serve a legitimate academic purpose.

2.  U.S. Supreme Court precedence in Miller v. California is still relevant in the state where the case originated over a half century ago. Since Congress and the state legislature have both perpetuated long-standing laws based on Miller, including defining it in the Penal Code, it’s time to apply the standard to our public schools and libraries.

3.  This bill is limited in scope and not directed toward books that are controversial for reasons not having to do with obscenity and thus, age-appropriateness.

4.  There is a false narrative that parents are “banning books” when they are simply curating better, age-appropriate texts. Our schools are not the Library of Congress and just because someone wrote a salacious book for teens doesn’t mean that it should be required reading in our classrooms.

5.  This bill sets the stage for a more coherent curriculum review process by the state and school boards where local standards are better understood and upheld by the citizenry. Legislators should be on record for where they draw the line on age-appropriateness, obscenity and harmful content for our children’s public school books.

Please remember the deadline to submit comments is this Friday, April 12th!  

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