Who Killed SB673 in Committee?

SACRAMENTO  – Today, Democrats on the Senate Education Committee in Sacramento  ignored the concerns of tens of thousands of parents and families across  the state who sought greater transparency and accessibility in sex  education by voting down SB 673 by Senator Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga).

“SB 673 is about enhancing transparency and supporting  parents’ decision-making when it comes to sex education and our youngest  students in elementary school,” said Morrell. “Today’s  vote by Senate Democrats in Sacramento is a vote against parents and  the right they have to be as involved as possible in determining what’s  best for their children. Our work is not over in this effort. I want to  thank the coalition behind this bill and all those who made their voices  heard and those who made the trip to the Capitol for this hearing.”

More than 47,000 people have signed a Change.org petition asking the Senate Education Committee to take action by passing SB 673,  and thousands more have written in individually supporting the bill.

Most Californians know that classes covering personal health and sex  are taught in middle school and high school. Current statute, however,  also permits school districts to adopt this controversial curriculum as  early as transitional kindergarten.

The diverse coalition in support of SB 673 collectively represents at least 10.8 million people,  including: the California Catholic Conference, the National Center for  Law & Policy, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California,  branches of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, a chapter of the NAACP,  dozens of Korean Christian churches, nondenominational churches,  faith-based organizations and others, as well as tens of thousands of  people who submitted letters and made calls to their representatives.

Morrell authored SB 673 after Denise Pursche, a mother in Contra  Costa County, shared her experience and difficulty in accessing sex  education lessons set to be taught in her child’s 5th grade class. It took 30 days inquiring of her school district before she was given even half an hour to review the material.

SB 673 focused on two main components: 1) Increasing transparency and  creating full disclosure by requiring school districts to post sex  education curriculum online, making it available for parents to review  and 2) restores the right of parents of elementary-age students (TK-6th  grade) to sign a permission slip opting their children in to sex education lessons.  https://morrell.cssrc.us/content/senate-democrats-ignore-families-kill-effort-bring-more-transparency-and-parent-decision