Newsom: State To Provide Textbooks After School Board Rejects Curriculum

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Facts

  • After California's Temecula Valley Unified School District voted 3-2 to reject a curriculum because it included a book that referenced LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the state would purchase and distribute the book if the board didn't reverse course by the start of the school year on Aug. 14.1
  • The grade 1-5 curriculum was part of a pilot program that started last year for 47 classrooms and 1.3K students. The board said the decision wasn't because Milk was gay but because he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old, as detailed in the book.2
  • The governor warned school board members who voted against the curriculum that if they “won't do their job, we will – and fine them for their incompetence.”3
  • Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond have also backed proposed Assembly Bill 1078, which, among other things, would require a two-thirds supermajority for a board to remove materials from a curriculum.1
  • This comes after the board's conservative majority, who are facing a recall effort funded by the One Temecula Valley PAC, dismissed former Superintendent Jodi McClay — who disagreed with the board on the topics of Milk and critical race theory — in June.1

Sources: 1Los Angeles Times, 2CNN and 3Newsweek.

Narratives

  • Right narrative, as provided by Sportskeeda. This school board did the right thing. After parents revolted against teaching about inappropriate interactions between an adult and a minor, the board followed the will of its constituents and voted to remove material that's meant to groom children. There's absolutely no need for first-graders to learn about these topics in an official school capacity.
  • Left narrative, as provided by POLITICO. The board majority didn’t follow the will of the people; it followed the will of an evangelical pastor and other right-wing officials who put them in power. The section of the book on Milk – which takes up just half a page – is part of a history lesson on the gay rights movement. This yet is more evidence of conservatives censoring what they don't agree with.