Governor Glenn Youngkin signed into law SB 656 a few months back. The legislation requires Virginia teachers to identify “sexually explicit” content within their curriculums and mandates that principals notify parents about the explicit content, prior to their classroom introduction. In accordance with the law, the Virginia Department of Education released its model guidelines for sexually explicit instruction this past month, and its language has raised serious concerns. By referencing an obviously outdated section of Virginia code, the new law creates the potential for all content mentioning same-sex relationships — in all grade levels — to require parental approval, effectively robbing Virginia students of the diverse and inclusive education to which they are entitled.
In part, the new law defines “sexually explicit content” as representations of pornography, coprophilia, bestiality and fetishism as well as any form of “sexual conduct” outlined in a specific subsection of Virginia code, § 18.2-390. This section of Virginia code happens to include the term “homosexuality” in its list of inherently sexual conduct. Which means — as the Pride Liberation Project deftly points out — the law could be interpreted to categorize all mentions of people in same-sex relationships as “sexually explicit” content — and thus require parental approval to be taught.
If any of this sounds eerily familiar to you, it is because earlier this year Florida Governor Ron Desantis signed a bill that famously gained traction as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Among other things, the bill “prohibit[s] classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade. While that bill was very open about its intent to ban certain kinds of classroom conversations and very limited in the age demographic it targeted, the bill that was signed in our state was far more clandestine in its efforts and affects students at every single grade level. Virginia’s version of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill is much farther reaching and — if teachers can’t get a whole bunch of waivers signed — it could be a lot more destructive.
It’s hard to say with certainty that further erasure of the LGBTQ+ narrative from school curriculums was an intended effect of this law. However, given the actions of Republican controlled state legislatures across the country, it isn't crazy to think that this was a concerted effort on the part of Virginia Republicans to exacerbate the marginalization of Virginia’s LGBTQ+ youth.
Schools exist to give kids the tools necessary to change the world. This will become fundamentally impossible if parents are “empowered” such that they can exclude any competing worldviews from the minds of their children. Diverse and inclusive curriculums aren’t only vital to the success of marginalized students — they are also the bedrock of a more equitable society, a society destined to break the cycles of bigotry perpetuated by generations past.
Unfortunately for the students of the Commonwealth, the Youngkin administration — in collaboration with Virginia Republicans — appears to have declared a war on love, on acceptance and on progress.
As far as the larger teacher shortage, The Economist reports the problem is the worse in red states that historically have not funded public schools - e.g., Alabama. Here are article excerpts:
The narrative goes as follows. America is suffering from a nationwide teacher shortage. Teachers have been leaving the profession for years, but recent stresses from the pandemic and the culture war have caused the entire profession to hit a tipping point. Educators are leaving in droves. School leaders are using desperate measures to recruit. Some districts are offering five-figure bonuses. Florida is allowing military veterans without the usually required qualification of a bachelor’s degree to teach while taking college classes. Some rural schools are even resorting to four-day school weeks.
These stories are true. Some schools and subjects are facing desperate shortages. But the problem is hardly national and certainly not new.
[R]esearchers from Kansas State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign gathered information from state education departments and news media. Among the 18 states with vacancy information for the last school year, only three (Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia) needed to fill 5% or more teaching positions. A shortage of teachers does exist, but it is not nationwide.
States that have historically invested in public education face fewer labour challenges. New Jersey ranks highly on many measures—test scores, per-pupil spending, graduation rates—and the state was fully staffed last year. By contrast Alabama ranks low on achievement (it comes 49th on national maths scores, for example). The state needed to fill over 3,000 vacancies last year, about 7% of its teaching positions. Its troubles have continued into the current school year.
Typically hard-to-staff areas and subjects continue to experience short supply. A government survey in June found that 47% of schools needed to fill a vacancy in special education, compared with only 11% in physical education. Non-white schools and schools in areas of high poverty face more pressure to hire than whiter and richer schools, and they have struggled with teacher shortages for decades.
This problem is not new. But for some states it is getting worse. In 2021-22, Mississippi needed to fill 3,036 of its positions (nearly 10% of its staff). Three years before, the state needed 1,063 teachers.
As in previous years, the shortage is largely confined to certain areas and subjects. Yet recently it has been perceived as a national problem.
Some of the hysteria might stem from teacher surveys indicating a more widespread issue: 74% of educators were dissatisfied with their jobs in June, according to a survey by the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second-largest teachers’ union. In February, a survey by the National Education Association, America’s largest labour union, estimated that 55% of teachers were considering leaving. No wonder. The pandemic was a tough time for everyone, but especially for educators who had to switch from in-class learning to remote learning without warning. But there is a difference between intending to leave and actually doing so.
The shortage narrative is politically expedient for education activists on both sides. Democrats, whose supporters favour spending more on public schools than Republicans, point to massive teaching shortages as proof that public schools are underfunded. . . . . “You have the most educated workforce in the nation. Educators have the most advanced degree, but they cannot have a liveable wage.”
But conservatives use the nationwide narrative for their own purposes, too. They point to the supposed shortage as proof that the entire state-school system is failing. They push for lowering teaching-certification standards and removing teachers’ unions. And they say privatisation provides an answer.
In truth, the schools that are struggling to hire teachers are the usual suspects. Nationwide, public schools are doing quite well: most pupils will have a teacher, and overall family satisfaction with their child’s school will probably stay high this year as in past years. The problems remain where the problems tend to exist—in the underfunded schools serving the most disadvantaged pupils.
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