TRENTON, NJ – The Republican caucus in Trenton has called upon Governor Phil Murphy and New Jersey Senate Democrat Leader Nick Scutari to host public hearings on the state’s new 2nd and 3rd grade sex and gender curriculum as the public uproar continues to grow as more parents learn the extreme nature of the lessons that would be taught to children as young as first and second grade.
“We have heard from a rapidly growing number of parents who are extremely concerned after learning about changes to state curriculum standards related to sex education that they believe are inappropriate for their children or in conflict with their values,” the Republicans said to Murphy. “As you are likely aware, the New Jersey State Board of Education adopted the revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Comprehensive Health and Physical Education in 2020, when most people were focused on navigating the many day-to-day impacts of the pandemic.”
The caucus says parents should have a say in education as they were part-time teachers during the pandemic school shutdowns enforced by the governor.
“In fact, when the State Board adopted the new standards on June 3, 2020, more than 1 million New Jerseyans were contending with unemployment as a result of your executive orders and mandates, and the parents of 1.4 million children were juggling their new roles as homeschool teachers with all of their other work and responsibilities,” the said. “It’s no surprise, then, that parents were completely unaware of these changes or the impact they would have in classrooms until local school districts started sharing resources recently to demonstrate how topics such as sexual activity, masturbation, and gender may be discussed with children at various grade levels to comply with the new curriculum standards.”
“Put simply, parents are telling us they do not understand how standards they view as extreme and age-inappropriate were adopted by an unelected, politically-appointed board, and they are outraged at how your administration is implementing them through the New Jersey Department of Education,” the Seantors said. “We urge you to listen to the concerns of New Jersey parents and immediately suspend the implementation of the new sex-ed standards. The process for adopting controversial curriculum changes such as these should be more open and transparent, and it should be done through the Legislature in a manner that is well-publicized.”