Using public records requests, Idaho Family Policy Center contacted every public school district in the state to see if they met a July 1 deadline to ban sexual orientation and gender identity in classroom instruction.
“About 38% of Idaho public schools are complying with the law,” Blaine Conzatti, president of the Policy Center, tells AFN.
Even that figure could be called generous, however, since only four of 117 school districts have adopted a district policy banning gender-based classroom lessons. About 20% missed the July 1 deadline but have said they are updating school policies to comply.
The requirement to drop the radical classroom lessons came from the Republican-led legislature after it approved House Bill 352 in March. The state’s governor, Brad Little, signed the bill into law and it became effective July 1.
In all, the Policy Center says 60% of school districts, at least 66 of them across the state, appear to be ignoring the deadline. Some districts are completely ignoring the law or, in some cases, banning the controversial topics only in elementary grades.
Policy Center organized its research into a 10-page “Policy Memorandum” report, published Oct. 16. Citing the state law, and also an executive order signed by President Trump, the report accuses many school districts of acting as if they are “above the law.”
“One of our policy recommendations,” Conzatti advises, “is to claw back some of the state education spending for public school districts that refuse to follow the law.”
The allowance of gender-based classroom lessons is happening in a solidly conservative state that chose Donald Trump, 67%-30%, in the presidential election.
