On February 3rd, Democrat Senators Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) and Lynwood Lewis (D-Accomac) joined the Republicans on the Senate Education and Health committee to approve SB 656, carried by Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico), which provides critical parental oversight of school instructional material. This bill requires the Board of Education to establish policies for local school divisions to follow that require each public elementary or secondary school to provide parental notification and review of instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, and offer alternative instructional material to any student whose parent objects to the curriculum.
The committee also passed 9 – 6 another bill carried by Senator Dunnavant (SB 739) that requires school divisions to offer in-person instruction for at least the minimum number of required annual instructional hours necessary for each student. This ensures that, except for days with inclement weather, our schools will remain open and in-person!
Thanks to the Family Foundation for tracking these bills.