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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 21, 2023 08:44 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Russ Diamond |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Parental Choice/Sexually Explicit Content in Schools |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to provide parents with the ability to be fully aware of the mature, sexual content their child may be provided in school and the ability to deny their own child access to such content should the parent believe it is inappropriate. Similar legislation has been authored by Senator Ryan Aument as Senate Bill 7. Over the past two or three years, parents have become increasingly concerned about inappropriate content in their children’s school curriculum and library books. This issue is certainly not unique to Pennsylvania as parents across the country have been shocked at the increasingly sexualized material being provided to their children or made available to them in classrooms and school libraries. In examples right here in Pennsylvania, parents have identified books and assignments that contain graphic sexually explicit content that adults would be prohibited from viewing while at work. Parents, understandably, are outraged. And when voicing their concerns to school administrators, many have felt like their concerns were dismissed or trivialized. This is unacceptable. Parents must be confident that their children are receiving a quality education in our schools without being exposed to inappropriate, sexually explicit content. In this day and age, when it seems increasingly unlikely that a community will reach consensus about what is appropriate educational content for children, we must empower parents to individually make that decision for their own children. To that end, this bill would require schools to identify sexually explicit content in school curriculum, materials, and books and notify parents that their child’s coursework includes such content or that a book their child wishes to view in the school library contains explicit content. Parents would then have the opportunity to review the materials and make the decision of whether to allow their children to be provided that coursework or prevent their child from viewing that particular book from the library through an opt-in form. If the parent decides to not opt-in their child for coursework that includes concerning content, the child will be provided with a non-explicit alternative. Please join me by cosponsoring this legislation to support parental choice. |
Introduced as HB1659