CA classrooms in the middle of culture wars

Culture wars have always had a presence in American public education. But heated debates concerning book bans, parental rights and the safety of LGBTQ students flared last year inside some California classrooms.

These contentious topics were at the center of a CalMatters panel on Tuesday, which was moderated by CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones. While the hour-long event was civil, Assemblymembers Bill Essayli and Corey Jackson accused each other’s party of using children as political pawns and strongly disagreed about the role of parents and schools.

Essayli, a Corona Republican, said his unsuccessful Assembly Bill 1314 got more of a hearing on Tuesday than it did in the Democratic-controlled Legislature last year. The measure sought to require teachers to notify parents when their child identifies by a gender that does not match their birth records.

• Essayli: “That’s why you get such a strong reaction from people like me, Republicans or parents, because they do not believe that government has a legitimate role in telling them how to live their lives and raise their kids. That’s not up for negotiation.”

But Jackson contended that these “forced outing” policies endanger LGBTQ students, and the disproportionate number of LGBTQ homeless youth is evidence to Jackson that not all parents are accepting.

• Jackson: “If you’re not going to respect the lived experience of those who’ve actually lived through that kind of stuff, I think, is immoral.”

The Moreno Valley Democrat successfully advanced a law last year to limit book bans, and acknowledged that while school boards have autonomy, state action is necessary when their policies are unjust. Jackson also took issue with California Republicans targeting school board seats as a way to make political inroads, arguing that the party exploited “the legitimate concerns of parents… into political theater.”

Essayli responded that Republicans are reacting to parents’ complaints.

Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC Berkeley, acknowledged the tension between the state’s duty to protect marginalized groups and the perception of having its own political (or what some now call “woke”) agenda.

• Fuller: “In civil society the state steps into families all the time to help families or to remove kids from abusive homes. So it’s not unprecedented that the state would bump into the rights of parents and families. But… you have to be super careful because otherwise you find yourself in this political tangle that we’re enmeshed in.”

The session also included video testimony from two parents: Angela Givant from Glendale Unified School District, who said that “bigoted views of gender and sexuality” have resulted in many parents considering pulling their kids out of the district; and Erin Friday from San Francisco, who said her daughter “used to believe” she was a boy before transferring out of public school, and that schools should focus on students’ low English and math scores instead of sexuality.

In a session full of victories during last year’s “hot labor summer,” the veto stood as one of labor’s few big defeats: Gov. Gavin Newsom struck down a high-profile bill to give jobless benefits to workers on strike. 

Tuesday, the California Labor Federation, a coalition of unions and Sen. Anthony Portantino reintroduced the bill. It will likely face strong opposition again from business groups led by the California Chamber of Commerce, which labeled it a “job killer.”

Under current law, people who voluntarily leave work due to a “trade dispute” are barred from collecting unemployment benefits, which are funded by a payroll tax on businesses.

Senate Bill 1116, like the vetoed legislation, would allow workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks to claim benefits.

• Peter Finn, president of Teamsters Joint Council 7, in a statement: “Strikes are hard enough without also going into debt or losing your home. This bill will ensure that workers on strike can make ends meet. They should not be forced into poverty and desperation just because they can’t access the same benefits as other unemployed workers.” 

But the Glendale Democrat’s bill could again run up against financial reality: The state, which borrowed from the feds during the COVID-19 shutdown when unemployment surged, still owes some $20 billion and is paying hundreds of millions of dollars in interest. That was the primary reason Newsom gave in his veto message last September.

California is a Democratic state, mostly. So it’s not that big a surprise when ambitious Democratic politicians go after each other.

Still, it’s getting contentious out there:

In the 22nd Congressional District race in the Central Valley, former Assemblymember Rudy Salas put up a TV ad attacking state Sen. Melissa Hurtado on her abortion rights record. 

• The ad: “In this election for Congress, vote ‘no’ on losing our freedom to make our own abortion health care decisions. Vote ‘no’ on Melissa Hurtado.”

Specifically, the ad cites that NARAL Pro-Choice California gave Hurtado a “D” in 2022 for not voting nine times on legislation to expand abortion access, Politico reports. The same group, however, gave her an A- in 2023, when she also received a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood.

• Hurtado, in a statement: “Leave it to a man like Rudy Salas to lie about my record — a woman’s record — on reproductive freedom. He should be ashamed.”

The two Democrats are vying to get in the top two in the March primary to go up against Republican incumbent David Valadao in November. The national Democratic Party is targeting this seat and is siding with Salas, who narrowly lost to Valadao in 2022.

In the 47th Congressional District race in Orange County to succeed Rep. Katie Porter, a pro-Israel PAC is opposing state Sen. Dave Min and supporting attorney and organizer Joanna Weiss. The American Prospect asked Tuesday why, when there isn’t much difference on policy. Reminder: The two Democrats have already tussled over Weiss raising Min’s drunken driving plea.

And in the U.S. Senate race, Porter is under assault by a super PAC funded by crypto companies. Fairshake began reserving television and digital advertising across California in a multimillion-dollar buy late Monday, The New York Times reports. 

• Porter, on social media: “Californians aren’t fooled: Shadowy crypto billionaires don’t want a strong voice for consumers in the Senate. They fear people who call out corporate greed, so they’re spending millions on dishonest dark-money ads against me.”

California has invested $370 million since 2014 in workforce programs to get people into higher-paying jobs with career opportunities, but “High Road” could be laid low by budget cuts. What are these “high road” jobs? CalMatters’ Adam Echelman has the answer.