North Cook News

Rep. Thomas Morrison (R-Palatine) spoke out against a bill that requires school textbooks to include a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in America's history, citing multiple reasons to oppose the legislation.

"Teachers and school districts can already choose to teach this," Morrison said. "Have you talked to parents and teachers in your home districts? What do they think? Here's what parents in my district said: How or why is someone's sexual preference relevant when talking about history? Especially in kindergarten and elementary-school education."

Morrison said there was no parental opt-out and no notifications for parents to discuss the information with their children prior to it being taught in schools.

"These are complicated matters that are not appropriate for this grade level," Morrison said. "This shouldn't be a statewide mandate. Only two other states have this requirement: California and New Jersey, and New Jersey's starts in middle school."

Morrison added that many teachers have expressed they are already struggling to get through the mandates they currently have. He also said that he is always in favor of a well-educated and well-informed citizenry, but America and Illinois are already failing to teach history to children.

"We aren't covering the basics," Morrison said. "Only one-third of Americans can pass the U.S. citizen test. On that test, Illinois finished in the middle of the pack. The states that already have this mandate finished below Illinois."

House Bill 246 passed with 60 Yes votes and 42 No votes. It was sponsored by Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin).

The bill amends the school code and provides that the textbooks authorized to be purchased must include the roles and contributions of all people protected under the Illinois Human Rights Act and must be non-discriminatory as to any of the characteristics under the act.

If passed by the Senate, the legislation will go into effect on July 1, 2020.