Bill: AB 1955 – California Bill to Protect Student-Teacher Secrets
Author: Assembly Member Ward (D- San Diego)
Position: Strongly OPPOSE
Current Status: AB 1955 Passed By Assembly is Now Headed to Governor’s Desk
Please pass this alert on to others who might respond and then take the suggested action below.
A. Action Item
Call the Governor’s Office IMMEDIATELY at (916) 445-2841.
Tell Them: “Please VETO AB 1955. I oppose keeping student’s secrets from their parents and forcing teachers to lie.”
Notes:
- Always call as a parent and citizen. This bill directly affects all families with children.
- This is not an exclusively homeschool issue. Do not call as a homeschooler.
- Do not disclose the source of this Alert. All bills are available on the Internet.
- Pass this on to your friends, church, school, and group.
- Pray for a proper outcome.
B. Opposition Points
- erodes parental rights and acts as an incremental step towards separating parent from child, replacing the parent with the state. This bill deals with the issue of gender identity, but what will be next?
- takes power away from local school boards and gives it to the state by granting immunity to teachers who violate local school policies established by locally elected school boards. AB 1955 starts down a slippery slope of having the state government take over policy issues that belong in purview of local control.
- creates division between parents and their children because it allows for teachers to conceal information from the parents, thus destroying trust in the family and undermining the family structure.
- leads to confusion and causes a lack of transparency between the child and their parents. The student might not communicate effectively with their parents or understand that they have to explicitly give permission to their teacher to tell their parents about their decision.
- restricts the freedom of parents to help their children make decisions about gender identity and establishes the state as the authority on this issue. This allows the school system to influence the child without the knowledge and permission of the parents.
- opens the door to keeping secrets from parents regarding a student’s gender identity, but what will be next?
- weakens the trust parents have in the school system by refusing to be transparent to parents about their children.
- oversteps bounds of authority by allowing school teachers to make impactful decisions for the student that should be left to the student’s parents.
- forces teachers to lie to parents about the student’s gender identity, thus teachers would be put in a compromising position against their conscience.
Why do we care about AB 1955?
Because the bill undermines the pillars of freedom (Religious Freedom and Parental Rights) upon which the legal right to enroll children in a private school or homeschool has been established.
