Kansas Republican legislators are working hard to encourage conservative parents to transfer their children from public schools due to what the latter teach about gender and sexuality.
Parents will be allowed to utilize state tax dollars to pay for private school or homeschooling, according to House Bill No. 2218. The said proposal was published online Tuesday, January 31, a day after a committee on K-12 spending presented the measure in the House.
Last week, Iowa lawmakers approved a similar law and reported that various states are also considering the same legislation. A proof that public school funding and lesson plans have indeed become "hot-button issues" for the nation's conservative politicians.
School choice to fight against 'sexualized woke agenda'
Moving public school funds to private ones is not new, but it was brought up again at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic due to parents' concern over student vaccines and masks. However, it is picking up fresh steam due to how schools conduct lessons about sensitive topics like gender, sexuality, and race.
When the Kansas Legislature opened its annual session this month, the Republican party leaders were more aggressive than ever in restricting how public schools discuss gender identity and sexuality, which Senate President Ty Masterson labeled as "the sexualized woke agenda," AP News reported.
Wichita-area Republican Masterson previously stated that he wanted to create a measure that would enable schools to "spell out" what they will be teaching their students about those sensitive topics by grade level. This law will be the same as the one enacted by Florida last year.
However, in an interview Monday, he shifted in direction as he introduced "school choice," calling it the "only way" to handle those sexualized woke agenda. Parents must have the right to choose the school they want their children to attend.
The perfect answer
House Bill No. 2218 is the "brainchild" of state Rep. Kristey Williams, also the K-12 spending committee chair.
Williams called her bill "the perfect answer" for the frustrated parents who worry about what public schools teach their kids about gender, sexuality, or racism in U.S. history yet cannot transfer their children to another school due to the extra costs, which they cannot afford.
"But with choice, it gives freedom to choose the best and most appropriate education, the best and most appropriate type of environment," she explained, as US News quoted.
In her proposal, parents will have the right to set up a "state-sponsored education savings account" for each student using the current public school base aid per student. Ninety-five percent of the amount will go to the parents, and the state will use the rest to pay for all administrative costs.
The 2023-24 school year is worth $5,103 per student. The said amount can increase as the state boosts its aid.
Democratic lawmakers and public education groups disagree with the proposal as it will take its toll on the state's K-12 schools. But more than that, they deny and reject Masterson's statement calling public schools "factories for a radical social agenda." They instead argued that the Republicans are trying to tear down public education.
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