Alaska Lawmakers Approve Bill To Restrict Sex Ed in Public Schools

In this Oct. 8, 2015, file photo, Justin Pace reads along with classmates during a ninth-g
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Dr. Susan Berry

The Alaska state legislature is sending a bill that requires sex education curricula for the state’s public school students to be approved by local school boards and open to review by parents to the desk of Independent Gov. Bill Walker.

HB 156, authored by state Rep. Wes Keller, aims to give local school districts in Alaska a respite from standardized testing following numerous problems with the state’s Alaska Measures of Progress exam. However, an amendment to the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Mike Dunleavy (R), which sought to bar abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood from teaching sex ed in public schools led to some controversy, reports JuneauEmpire.com.

The amended bill was finally approved on Thursday with language that affirms the responsibility of parents and local school boards to review and approve sex ed programs and teachers.

The bill requires those who seek to provide sex ed curricula to the state’s public school students “to go through the front door,” Keller tells Breitbart News, adding that, under the legislation, these providers would be under the supervision of a certified teacher, with curriculum pre-approved by local school boards.

“Parents must be notified and have access to the curricula and the teacher’s credentials,” Keller continued. “The bill also states the reality of parental constitutional rights to withdraw children from a class or program.”

Keller referred to the approval of the legislation by lawmakers as “a victory.”

Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii – the political advocacy arm of the abortion business in the states of Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Hawaii – reacted to the approval of the legislation on Twitter, by calling on Walker to veto the bill and claiming Planned Parenthood has been targeted by Dunleavy for “years.”

Planned Parenthood – a proponent of comprehensive sex education – recently announced its alliance with groups such as the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to promote LGBTQ-inclusive sex education in classrooms to which the groups gain entry.

Planned Parenthood itself is currently under congressional investigation after being exposed for its apparent practices of selling the body parts of babies it aborts in its clinics and altering the position of babies during abortion in order to harvest the most intact organs.

Keller explains that the primary thrust of the bill brings about a “pause” on statewide assessments required by state and federal laws.

“It also deletes a section of state law that required our State Department of Education to ‘implement’ ESSA,” he added.

The Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA] is the massive education bill signed into law by President Obama in December that replaces No Child Left Behind. Though proponents of ESSA claim it returns much of education policy to the states, the measure actually codifies into federal law a preschool program and still requires the Education Secretary to approve state standards and mandates annual testing in grades 3 through 8 and then again in high school.

“It obviously cannot nullify the federal law,” Keller said of his legislation. “But this deletion will incorporate the legislature and local districts in interpreting those federal laws to make our state and local laws and policies. It also forces the U.S. Department of Education to come through our front door.”

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