Key players in last Session’s debates are going to be steering education matters.
More culture wars for the state’s public schools are likely on tap for next Session if committee assignments for key players in last year’s Session are any indication.
Some of the most vocal Republicans in last year’s culture wars have spots on the Education & Employment Committee, as they did last year.
Rep. Ralph Massullo is the committee’s Chair. He made some standout statements on the floor as the full House debated new standards for sex education and stricter regulation for the use of pronouns in school.
The Lecanto Republican cited a debunked report that schools are providing litter boxes for children who identify as cats.
“We have kids in schools who think they are cats and different other animals. … We have to have schools where there’s litter boxes for these children,” Massullo said. “Teachers shouldn’t have to deal with that. They shouldn’t have to call their children by 78 different pronouns.”
Rep. Randy Fine also is on the education committee. Last Session, he led an effort to criminalize admitting children into “adult live performances,” that was dubbed the “anti-drag show” bill, although it didn’t explicitly mention drag shows. The law has since been struck down in court, and the state has appealed that decision.
When debating that and other legislation, such as increasing parental control on instructional materials, Fine has repeatedly stated, “There is evil in this world and we face it here today.”
Rep. Patricia Hawkins-Williams will reprise her role last Session as the Education & Employment Committee’s ranking Democrat.
The Republican supermajority was able to win key parts of its education priorities last Session. The priority that House Speaker Paul Renner set as his chief one — expanding school choice to all families regardless of income — was approved. And charter school legislation now gives those schools access to capital funds that had previously been restricted to paying for public school buildings.
The committee also includes Democratic Representatives who have proven more conservative on education matters than most of their party’s members. Three of the four Democrats who broke with their party and voted for expanding school choice — Reps. Kim Daniels, Gallop Franklin II and Susan Valdes — are on this committee.
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