Uproar over N.J. sex ed standards escalates as Senate panel debates proposal – NJ.com

For two hours Monday, a state Senate panel heard often-heated testimony from parents’ rights groups, conservative advocates, and religious leaders warning about young children being sexually exploited and exposed to topics such as pornography, sexual orientation, and gender identity under New Jersey’s updated sex education standards.

Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, repeated their calls to repeal the incoming guidelines, despite Democrats who insist the issue is being twisted and blown out of proportion.

In the end, the Senate Education Committee voted along party lines to move forward with a Democratic-sponsored bill that aims to allay fears by mandating school districts publish their sex ed curriculums online in the summer, ensuring parents can ask questions about the lessons, and reinforcing their right to opt children out of the classes.

“We will know what’s going on in our curricula in all of our school districts,” state Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, the committee’s chairman and bill’s main sponsor, said during the hearing at the Statehouse in Trenton. “If we see bad actors out there, this is how we will address that.”

The new standards, adopted by the state Board of Education in June 2020, outline when students in the Garden State should learn about topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and anatomy. It’s up to individual school districts to implement their own curricula based on the standards starting in the 2022-23 school year.

But there has been sustained uproar in recent weeks from Republican officials and some parents who say the guidelines go too far. The issue exploded in recent weeks after the Westfield school district released sample lessons the state provided on a resource page — though local officials insisted they were merely examples and won’t be part of the curriculum in the fall.

Gov. Phil Murphy and fellow Democrats, who control the state Legislature, have defended the guidelines, saying they will provide students with a more inclusive education and that critics are misrepresenting what the standards actually say and maligning the LGTBQ community to score political points.

The standards are still on schedule and the state Board of Education president last week said the panel will not re-evaluate them despite a request by four of its 13 members to do so.

Gopal — who narrowly won re-election last year — and other Democratic lawmakers sponsored the bill that advanced Monday (S2481) to give parents a greater say in the matter. It would require school boards in the state to offer an annual opportunity for parents and guardians and any other residents, to provide comments on any curriculum using the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education proposed for the succeeding school year.

This was the first time the measure received a public hearing. The result was less a debate on the bill and more a forum for Republicans and some advocates to keep pressing Democrats to repeal the standards completely and start over.

Rev. Gregory Quinlan of the Center for Garden State Families said the standards would allow teachers to “groom” students for “sex traffickers” — an argument often raised by the far right on social media, using a stereotype that says LGBTQ people are trying to indoctrinate young people.

“Sir, you are completely out of line,” Gopal responded.

The chairman repeatedly chided speakers and Republican lawmakers for bringing up topics not related to the bill but to the standards instead.

“We’re talking about transparency in curriculum,” Gopal said. “Something you should all want. But for some reason, you’re all opposed.”

State Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren, said many parents “don’t want sexual orientation being taught” kindergarten, first grade, or second grade.

“They think it’s a little too early,” Doherty said.

The new standards do not say students should learn about sexual orientation in those grades but that “all individuals should feel welcome and included regardless of their gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation” by the end of fifth grade. They say by second grade, teachers should “discuss the range of ways people express their gender and how gender-role stereotypes may limit behavior.”

Just before the hearing began Monday, Republican lawmakers introduced two separate bills that would repeal the standards, prohibit the state Board of Education from issuing new health and physical education standards, and increase parents’ say in schools’ curricula.

“The current controversy over the extreme mandates imposed by unelected Trenton bureaucrats demonstrates exactly why we need to empower parents and local communities to control how sex education is taught in their children’s schools,” said Sen. Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen one of the sponsors.

Doherty on Monday called for lawmakers to consider those bills instead, saying Gopal’s measure “won’t change the standards at all.” He said the Republican proposal would “address legitimate concerns” of parents and “put decisions about how to teach sex education 100% in the hands of local school boards, parents, and their communities.”

It’s unlikely the Republican bills would get a vote in the Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats who determine which measures get considered.

Gopal stressed Monday the state Board of Education already voted on the standards and his bill would give parents a chance to come before school districts to ask questions and lobby for changes. He said said time is of the essence because if the bill isn’t passed soon, there will be no mandate by September for districts to post their sex and health curricula online.

“At the end of the day, if we don’t pass this today, we have nothing,” the chairman said. “I think it’s a really good start.”

The Senate committee ultimately approved the bill 3-1-1. Gopal and two other Democrats, Sens. Sandra Cunningham of Hudson County and Shirley Turner of Mercer County, voted in favor, while Doherty voted no and state Sen. Samuel Thompson, R-Middlesex, abstained.

It must now be passed by both the full Senate and state Assembly before Murphy could decide whether to sign it into law. Gopal said he expects the Assembly to consider the measure.

This all comes in the wake of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans schools in the state from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in pre-school through third grade, and 15 similar laws proposed in other states.

The Senate Education Committee on Monday also approved a bill (S1221) that would require New Jersey public schools to provide free menstrual products in all bathrooms.

“This legislation will keep students in the classroom by making supplies readily available to those who need them,” said Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, a sponsor of the measure.

In addition, the panel approved another a bill (S2268) that would require a report on learning loss to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students. The measure would provide analysis based on district size, grade and subject areas as well as students’ race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, ability or disability and English language proficiency.

Both of those proposals would also need to be passed by the full Senate and Assembly before heading to the governor’s desk for final approval.

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @johnsb01.

Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.