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Posted on 12/22/2021 2:33:31 PM PST by lightman
Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have required public schools to post online educational materials used in their classrooms.
The legislation was billed as a way to give parents easier access to the curriculum being taught to their children but the governor and Democrats saw it as an unfunded mandate meant to intimidate educators and hurt students’ learning opportunities.
“Under the guise of transparency, this legislation politicizes what is being taught in our public schools,” Wolf said in his veto message.
The bill would have required school administrators to post and periodically update course syllabuses, course summaries, the state academic standard to each instructional course, and title or link to textbooks used in the school, unless it violated a copyright law.
The governor opposed this bill from the outset. In his veto message, he said, “This legislation is a thinly veiled attempt to restrict truthful instruction and censor content reflecting various cultures, identities, and experiences. My administration is committed to creating a safe learning environment for all students, and we will not take part in this dangerous and harmful imposition.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin County, said many schools already do this so his bill intended to standardize this practice across all school districts, charter schools, intermediate units and career and technical schools. Private and parochial schools would have been exempt from the bill.
In a statement in response to the governor’s veto, Lewis said, “It is infuriating that the governor wants to maintain the status quo and have parents jump through hoops to access information about their own children’s education.”
He went on to say, “This governor’s veto is without any logical justification, which, sadly, does not surprise me. This was a necessary and reasonable bill to provide transparency in the educational process.”
Supporters of the bill noted the information required to be posted should be readily accessible to parents. Further, Lewis said it would bring Pennsylvania “into the 21st century by making sure that especially in an environment of remote learning, parents can access the information that they’re entitled to [by state law] online.”
Critics, however, argued that this was an unfunded, unnecessary mandate on schools that would add to an already full plate of responsibilities.
They maintain parents and guardians who want to review curriculum and textbooks already can access this information by requesting it from their child’s teachers, school administrators or school board members. Parents and guardians also can choose to have students opt out of instruction that conflicts with their religious beliefs.
Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Allegheny County, who was among the bill’s opponents, said in her floor remarks it would create what she termed as “an overly burdensome system on teachers and administrators that has to be constantly monitored and updated.”
She and others feared it could lead to more intimidation and threats against school board members and encourage outside influence over how history and other subjects are taught.
“It’s about bringing the fights that get started on Fox News to the kindergarten classroom near you,” said Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny County, during a House debate on the bill. “This legislation is an invitation to the book burners and anti-maskers to harass our schools and our teachers.”
But supporters questioned why schools were trying to make it more difficult for people to see what’s being taught in classrooms.
“There’s no reason to hide if there’s nothing to be scared of,” said Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-Butler County, during the House debate.
Several public school advocacy groups including the Pennsylvania State Education Association and Pennsylvania School Boards Association were among those opposed to the legislation, which led to Lewis accusing the governor of catering to special interests.
Wolf said imposing such a requirement on schools would have proven to be a distraction for “educators who should be focused on critical issues such as addressing learning loss, managing the impacts of the pandemic on students, and working through staffing shortages.”
Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center-PA, said the measure “is part of a national effort that will lead to book bans of the kind attempted in the Central York School District. There is no room for this type of censorship in Pennsylvania. ... We will continue to oppose any legislative attempts to prevent students from learning about racism and the impact of racial, sex, and gender inequality. We hope the General Assembly will reject further efforts to divide our communities.”
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That should cost him his political future. Maybe he might resign,
Wolf is a term-limited lame duck who was effectively neutered by the legislature and a new Constitutional amendment limiting his emergency powers.
In that condition his veto pen is much mightier than his sword.
That creep is an unmitigated commucrat asshole.
/.02
Tommie The Commie doesn’t care-he is term limited.
His replacement will probably be an even worse tyrant if the Rats steal the 2022 election, and you can be damn well sure they will try.
Can his veto be overriden?
It would be truly difficult to find a more twisted lie stated by a politician. The effect of transparency is to remove political propaganda from the classroom!
It would require 2/3rds of the PA House to do so, which means it would need some dem votes. Short answer - no. If the Dems are anything, they are in lock step.
its up to the parents
they should all be requesting those materials
they might decide a website is easier
This is utter mush. Visibility = "Politicizing"
Newspeak!
<><>it’s not okay for a CNN producer to groom children,
<><>but it is okay when public school administrators do it.
Vermont school commits to kiddie porn as enlightening for children:
Proclaimed it has the duty to expose children to porn imagery — to support free speech
American Thinker ^ | 12/11/2021 | John Klar Posted on 12/11/2021
This marks the beginning of a perverse justification for distributing pornography to children. The rationale employed would serve to groom children sexually for adult sodomy as a child’s “right.”
Vermont’s Essex-Westford School District, which includes the town of Essex that last year fired a high school lifeguard for merely questioning Critical Race Theory, has done it again. In the midst of a national furor over a sexually explicit graphic novel, the school has proclaimed it has the duty to expose children to pornographic imagery — to support free speech.
It is axiomatic that free speech rights do not extend fully into schools — they never have. For example, the First Amendment protects quite a shocking variety of pornographic materials, including bondage and rape videos. Are those acceptable, protected school teaching materials? School administrations are supposed to be answerable to the appropriate needs of children.
But ESWD has declared itself the champion of the minuscule percentage of children afflicted with gender dysphoria, which not only is rare, but most often disappears with adulthood. All children must be sacrificed at Essex-Westford.
The book in question, Gender Queer, created a national controversy not because the subject of the book is a “non-binary” student (a multitude of such titles abound, as all informed parents are now unavoidably aware), but because the book features “pages of explicit illustrations depicting oral sex [sic].” The school’s defiant letter to parents avoids mentioning this fact, instead proclaiming itself the defender of constitutional values:
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Cont
GET THIS IN ALL SCHOOLS
AFTER A Leaked Audio Reveals How California Teachers Recruit Kids Into LGBTQ Clubs, Supt. Tarallo, SUSD President McDougall and Kate Pagaran, Buena Vista Middle School principal, issued a letter addressed to the “SUSD Community:”
<><>the gay indoctrination club “UBU (You Be You)” has been suspended.
<><>“Any future student clubs will be required to submit an outline of all activities and materials before being allowed to meet,” the letter states.
<><>“Student sign-in sheets will be maintained and parent/guardian permission slips sent home prior to a club holding a meeting.”
<><> “all messaging shared in the morning announcements” will be controlled and distributed by the principal, a practice that “will be in place permanently.”
<><>SUSD states clearly: “Teachers are prohibited from monitoring students’ online activity for any non-academic purpose.”
<><>SUSD will follow state-approved standards and curriculum on all presentations involving “sensitive themes such as sexuality”
<><> “materials of any sensitive themes will be shared with parents/guardians before being shown to students.”
Parents have a solemn right and obligation to know what is being taught to their children.
Imposing such a requirement on schools is an easy way to provide transparency for the parents of the school children.
Why is Wolf taking the communist approach to hiding what is going on?
The teachers should welcome input from the parents. Perhaps the school authorities can place live cameras In the classrooms so parents can monitor what is being taught to their children.
So, like Deblazio, he is simply stirring the pot with idiotic actions before leaving office and leaving the mess for his successor to clean up.
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“Its up to the parents. They should all be requesting those materials. A website ...”
Something like that but obviously a lot of parents aren’t paying attention to what is being taught.
The teachers could vocally plant ideas that would not show up in formal course documentation.
Maybe posting it to everyone is best. Then the activists can raise awareness.
Can’t wait until this piece of shit is gone. Notice you don’t hear from any teachers that want transparency. They are leftist POSs too. We need to shutter government schools.
All problems the Wolf and that freak Richard Levine created. Given Wolf's track record he wants to hide the fact schools have reading materials like, "My Daddy cut of his dick, so now he's my Mommy."
(((Snort))) Of course His Worship vetoed it. The peasantry has no need to know the alchemy of the Educational Experts.
His Worship was last seen extolling the virtues of Prima Nocta.
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