HB781:

Public elementary and secondary schools; student citizenship skills, etc.

Bill Summary:

Public elementary and secondary schools; student citizenship skills; certain instructional policies prohibited; parental rights; disclosures; penalties; other remedies. Requires the Board of Education to incorporate into each relevant Standard of Learning and associated curriculum framework a requirement that each student demonstrate the understanding of, among other concepts, the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government, as well as the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic engagement in the United States. The bill prohibits any public school teacher or other instructional staff member from being required to discuss any current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs and provides that any such employee who chooses to discuss any such event or issue in the scope of his instructional duties shall, to the best of his ability, strive to explore such issues from diverse and contending perspectives, without giving deference to any one perspective. The bill prohibits the Board and Department of Education and each local school board from teaching, instructing, or training certain individuals and groups, including teachers and students, to support, believe, endorse, embrace, confess, act upon, or otherwise assent to a divisive concept, as defined in the bill, or penalizing or discriminating against any such individual or group for refusing to do so. The bill also prohibits any school board or employee thereof from teaching or incorporating into any course or class any such divisive concept or creating a position or hiring a consultant with the job title of equity director or diversity director or a substantially similar title and with a job description that includes any activity that would result in a violation of a provision of the bill. The bill further declares that the parent of each student enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school has the right to be aware of all curricula, instructional materials, lessons, and other forms of instruction provided to his child and may request that the student's teacher provide any such item for review. Finally, the bill provides that in the event that a local school board finds that a school board employee has persistently, knowingly, and intentionally violated any of the bill's provisions, the parent of any student affected by such violations may request and the local school board shall provide a voucher in an amount equal to all sums from any source that the local school board received for the education of such student and the parent shall use such voucher to provide for the education of his child in any setting set forth in relevant law.