DeMaio Warns of California Democrats' Move to Strip All School Boards’ Authority Over Curriculum

Do you think that education and curriculum decisions should be made at the local level by your school boards and other relevant elected officials? Well, a new bill in Sacramento is seeking to strip those choices away from local groups — and enforce them from the statewide level instead.

Worse, the bill (Assembly Bill 1078), sponsored by Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D), would require that any attempts by local school districts to remove controversial teaching materials or curriculum must “receive approval from the state board” in order to do so. The bill is being touted as a way to ensure teaching materials promote racial, cultural, and sexual diversity — and to counteract proposals like those in Florida, which have sought to remove what advocates described as pornographic and racist materials from schools.

Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California, says that the bill would enforce state-mandated control over local curriculum and reinforce the teaching of “woke” and “inappropriate” topics.

“AB 1078 would eliminate the ability of local education officials to make decisions on curriculum based on the needs and desires of parents and students in their community,” said DeMaio. 

“It would force the entire state to conform to teaching woke critical race theory and overtly sexual and pornographic concepts - all designed to advance partisan political agendas that have no place in our classrooms,” he continued. 

DeMaio points to recent studies Reform California conducted that found multiple books — listed by name — and other materials in local school districts that teach students explicit sexual concepts and racially insensitive topics, including: 

• how to experiment sexually at a young age;
• how to go onto the internet to meet people for sexual encounters;
• how to take revealing pictures and share them over the internet;
• the “privilege” that some (white) students have versus minorities;
• how American institutions are inherently racist;
• that the only way students can prove they are “anti-racist” is to demonstrate that by becoming “social justice” activists and engaging in concrete steps and campaigns against so-called racist regimes, policies, institutions, etc.
• and more!

But when parents and concerned citizens demand that these materials be removed from public schools, Democrat politicians who control the school boards and liberal media outlets dismiss their concerns and falsely drive a narrative of the effort being about opposing “diversity.”

“California Democrats and the liberal media have been running cover for these books and education topics under the guise that they merely include positive depictions of race and LGBT-affirming topics,” explains DeMaio - who himself is openly gay. 

“This has nothing to do with respecting different races or sexual orientations - we want to treat everyone with dignity and respect - but this is about the dangerous and inappropriate sexualization and radicalization of our children at a young age,” DeMaio notes.

DeMaio says the next steps in fighting AB 1078 are to get parents in every school district to conduct “self-audits” of library books and curriculum to flag any inappropriate materials and expose them to the public; to call and write members of the California Assembly requesting they oppose AB 1078; and to join the campaign to replace politicians in the California Assembly and elsewhere in 2024 that support bills like AB 1078.

“We can’t fight back without the help of concerned parents and community members, so join the campaign today,” he concluded.