New Jersey Governor Directs Review of New Sex-Ed Framework amid Parent Pushback
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New Jersey governor Phil Murphy on Wednesday ordered the state education department to review the state’s new sexual-education framework in response to parental pushback over questions of its age-level appropriateness.
Critics, including some Republican legislators, claim the standards expose young children to concepts of gender identity and sexual orientation when they are not yet mature enough to grasp them.
“At a time when we must prioritize student mental health and academic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is paramount that our standards also promote inclusivity and respect for every child, including LGBTQ youth,” Murphy wrote Wednesday in a statement. “In New Jersey, parents always have and always will have a say in their child’s education, which includes opting their child out of any health lesson that they would rather discuss in the privacy of their own home.”
Murphy appears to be attempting to strike a balance between the views of both parties on parental engagement in education. He said New Jersey will be welcoming to parental input while holding the progressive line in maintaining a commitment to gender inclusivity in K–12.
“I think there’s some sort of sense that parents have no say, and I would just say emphatically that parents deserve absolutely to have a say in this sort of stuff — along with all other interested parties, but probably none are more interested than parents,” Murphy told reporters at a press conference Monday.
However, he criticized Republican lawmakers for their response to the sex-ed standards. “Unfortunately, our learning standards have been intentionally misrepresented by some politicians seeking to divide and score political points,” Murphy added in his Wednesday statement.
“At the same time, we have seen a handful of sample lesson plans being circulated that have not been adopted in our school districts and do not accurately reflect the spirit of the standards. Any proposed educational content that is not age-appropriate should be immediately revised by local officials,” he said.
Murphy has instructed the state education department to scrutinize the standards and “provide further clarification on what age-appropriate guidelines look like for our students.”
This development in New Jersey’s public-school sex-ed policies comes after many weeks of drama over a similar issue in Florida, which just codified into law its Parental Rights in Education measure prohibiting the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity to kindergartners through third graders. That legislation, while earning majority support from Florida residents and voters regardless of political party, sparked loud backlash from Disney, which has a major corporate presence in the state and many LGBT employees. Despite Disney’s protests and lobbying, however, Florida governor Ron DeSantis fast-tracked the bill and signed it.
