Daily Archives: 2023-01-14

Senate Bill 39 – Protecting LGBTQ youth in schools

From Chalkbeat article on bills affecting transgender students:

At least one prominent lawmaker pushed in the opposite direction. A bill by Senate Minority Leader J.D. Ford, a Democrat, would extend anti-discrimination protections at schools to students based on their gender identity and sexuality.

Ford’s legislation, Senate Bill 39, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to state law prohibiting discrimination in public schools, which currently includes disability, race, color, gender, national origin, religion, and ancestry.

The bill would prohibit segregation based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and ban schools from denying students admission on that basis. It would also prohibit discrimination in hiring teachers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

More about Senate Bill 39:

Senate Bill 39
Authored by Sen. J.D. Ford.

DIGEST
Equal educational opportunity. Extends certain antidiscrimination educational rights statutes to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Actions for Senate Bill 39
S 01/09/2023 First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development
S 01/09/2023 Authored by Senator Ford J.D.

Link to downloadable PDF of Introduced bill SB0039.01.INTR

Continue ReadingSenate Bill 39 – Protecting LGBTQ youth in schools

Senate Bill 354 – Outing transgender students in Indiana

Update: This bill will likely be reconciled with House Bill 1608, which not only does it not allow any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in K-3 classes, but it specifically encourages bullying and abuse of gender non-conforming children in schools by both students and staff members, and mandates outing gender non-conforming children to their parents.

A new bill authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz would make mandatory outing transgender students to their parents if they request to be called something other than their name or pronouns assigned at birth.

Senate Bill 354
Introduced Senate Bill (S)
Authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz.

DIGEST
Education matters. Provides that a: (1) school that seeks state accreditation; and (2) national or regional accreditation agency that seeks to be recognized by the state board of education (state board); must complete and submit the applicable application form established by the state board. Requires the state board to do the following: (1) Not later than six months after the date a completed application is submitted, approve or deny the accreditation or recognition. (2) If the state board denies an accreditation or recognition, send notice to the school or national or regional accreditation agency stating the reasons for the denial. Requires the department of education to post a copy of the application forms on the department’s website. Requires a public school, including a charter school, to notify the parent of an unemancipated minor, if the student: (1) makes a certain disclosure concerning the student’s gender identity or gender expression to an employee or staff member of the school; or (2) changes, expresses a desire to change, or makes a request to change the student’s name, attire, or pronoun, title, or word to identify the student in a manner that is inconsistent with the student’s biological sex at birth. Requires an employee or staff member of a school to report to the school a disclosure or information described in these provisions to the school.

Actions for Senate Bill 354

S0 1/12/2023 First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development
S0 1/12/2023 Authored by Senator Raatz

Link to downloadable PDF file of the Introduced Bill: SB0354.01.INTR

References:

Indiana General Assembly – Senate Bill 354

Chalkbeat – Indiana bill would require teachers and schools to report student requests to change names, pronouns

Continue ReadingSenate Bill 354 – Outing transgender students in Indiana