I comment here to express my intense opposition to SB656. While I am unlikely to identify new issues with this bill that haven’t yet been pointed out, I do want to stress that this bill is an affront to educators. The bill identifies three “Guiding Principles”:  (1) Confidence in parents; (2) Respect for parent decision-making; and (3) Respect parents’ rights to protect their children’s innocence.  The overarching implication of this bill is that it displays: (1) No confidence in educators; (2) No respect for educator decision-making; and (3) No respect that educators will protect children’s innocence. Parents already have access to avenues by which they can challenge educational content or request alternative assignments for their children they seem to frail to be exposed to “mature” subject matter. Beyond that, parents who fear that their public school children may learn that heterosexuality isn’t the only sexuality have the option of sending their children to private/parochial school or sheltering them even further by homeschooling. As such, there is absolutely no reason to pass legislation that will put educators in the crosshairs of an imagined culture war. They work too hard and receive too little compensation to be treated like foreign enemies trying to indoctrinate children.