Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just struck yet another major blow against the left, this time by signing into law CS/HB 1467.
That bill will not only reign in school boards by imposing four-year term limits on members of those boards, but will also make most of the material in school libraries and classrooms subject to government oversight, an act the writers hope will keep pornography and books with radical social messages out of classrooms.
The relevant passage of the bill relating to term limits states that:
“District school board members shall be elected at the general election in November for terms of 4 years except that a person may not appear on the ballot for reelection to the office of school board member if, by the end of his or her current term of office, the person will have served, or but for resignation would have served, in that office for 12 consecutive years. Service of a term of office which commenced before November 8, 2022, will not be counted toward the limitation imposed by this section.”
So, those already serving might serve more than four years, but starting in 2022, it will be much harder for leftists on school boards to maintain power by serving for long periods.
Later, the bill provides that not only are the school boards responsible for overseeing what books and instructional materials are used by the schools and kept in their libraries, but also that there must be dispute resolution mechanisms in place for if parents are upset about the materials being used, that pornographic materials of any type are unsuitable for the children, and that use of those materials described as unsuitable by the statute or other laws should be immediately discontinued.
Describing the law and how it will improve Florida’s educational system in an excellent press conference, DeSantis first highlighted the term limits portion of the bill, saying:
“I’m a big believer in term limits, but you don’t even always have to wait for that to attach. You can throw the bums out in the election, If they mistreated your kids or if they didn’t follow the law, or if they did anything, you have an opportunity, for many of them will be up for reelection. I think that school board races often did not get much attention.”
Later, he defended the right of parents to get involved in what their kids are learning and have some influence over what is taught, saying:
“[T]here is a debate in this country about what role parents have in the education of their kids. And I think in Florida with, our Parents’ Bill of Rights, with the bill we’re going to sign here today, other bills we’re going to sign later, we believe parents not only have a role, but they also have a fundamental role to be involved in the education of their kids. And that’s how it’s going to be in the state of Florida.
“We reject those that say, parents not only shouldn’t be involved but there are also some say, parents don’t even have a right to know what is being taught in this, that there are actually some places where you can make serious decisions for these kids and not inform the parents about it.”
Given how the Virginia gubernatorial race went, that defense of a parental right to have a say in the educational program should be highly popular and prove useful to DeSantis in Florida’s upcoming gubernatorial election.
By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Parler and Gettr.
This story syndicated with permission from Will, Author at Trending Politics