Educational Equity Discrimination Amendments

AB 2615 amends four sections of California's Education Code that govern some of the most consequential decisions in public schooling: what teachers may present to students, what content is prohibited in classrooms, and which instructional materials receive state approval. Because these provisions touch every school day and every classroom, even technical amendments carry significant practical weight. The American Council opposes this bill on the grounds that its likely effect is to expand ideological mandates that conflict with biological truth, parental authority, and the moral convictions of millions of California families.

Sections 51500 and 51501 set the boundaries of permissible and impermissible classroom content. Amendments to these sections do not operate in the abstract. They directly shape what teachers say, what materials they use, and what students are exposed to for thousands of instructional hours. When the state uses equity language to expand protected categories or instructional obligations in these sections, it is not merely updating policy. It is redefining what counts as acceptable truth in the classroom, often in ways that contradict a Christian understanding of the human person as male or female, created in the image of God.

Section 60151 governs the approval of instructional materials across California's public schools. Expanding equity mandates within this section functions as a gatekeeper mechanism. Materials that affirm biological sex, reflect traditional family structures, or present a faith-consistent moral anthropology become harder to approve, while materials that contradict these views gain a structural advantage. This is not neutral administration. It is the state using curriculum policy to marginalize perspectives held by a substantial portion of its own population.

The American Council affirms that genuine educational equity means every child has access to accurate information, honest instruction, and a school environment free from coercion. It does not mean conformity to a particular ideological account of identity, sexuality, or the human person. True equity protects the child whose parents hold traditional religious convictions just as much as any other child. Legislation that expands state authority over classroom content in the name of equity, without corresponding protections for dissenting viewpoints, does not advance equity. It narrows it.

Parents bear primary responsibility for the moral and spiritual formation of their children. This is not a sectarian claim. It is recognized in international human rights law, in the history of American education, and in the natural order of family life. When California amends its education statutes to deepen ideological instruction requirements, it substitutes state judgment for parental judgment on matters of deep moral significance. The American Council calls on California lawmakers to reject AB 2615 and to pursue educational policy that honors truth, respects families, and leaves room for the full range of convictions held by the students and parents schools are meant to serve.