LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and running mate Shane Hernandez announced from Lansing on Tuesday their “Age Appropriate Classroom Instruction Act” proposal. 

“This act will require school districts to ensure that their schools do not provide classroom instruction on sexual orientation, or gender identity in grades K – 3,” Dixon said, “Or in any manner that is not age or developmentally appropriate.”

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The proposed bill will be modeled after Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill” according to Dixon, and would work in conjunction with their previously proposed bill, “Parents’ Right to Know Act,” to ensure parents’ rights and values are respected by our school system and that only age appropriate information will be taught to their children. 

“The parents right to know act will require school districts to post the curriculum and teaching material online for parents to easily see,” she said. 

In addition to introducing her bill proposal, Dixon commented on the state of Michigan education under Governor Gretchen Whitmer. 

The state has endured a decline in high school graduation rate, a decline in school enrollment, and Michigan is ranked 38th in education in the nation, according to Dixon.  More than half of Michigan children are not doing math or reading at grade level, she said. 

Lt. Governor Candidate Shane Hernandez spoke briefly regarding his thoughts on the proposal and his concerns as a parent. 

“As a father of two girls with my youngest being in 3rd grade, it is an important day to be standing here alongside Tudor Dixon and other concerned parents. It’s also a bit sad that we’re having to talk about this today,” Hernandez said. “We expect our kids to go to school to learn how to read, how to write, and do math. I’ve saved and sacrificed to be able to choose a school for my kids where I know that’s the case, but unfortunately not everyone has that ability.”

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“This proposal will make it certain that the youngest most innocent of our children are not being taught sexual content or woke gender theory,” he said. 

Dixon and Hernandez were joined by Vice President of Stand Up Michigan Tammy Clark who voiced her support for the campaign and their efforts to hear parents regarding their students’ education.  

“If there is anything good that came out of the lockdowns, it was that parents had for the first time an up close and personal look at exactly what their children were learning.  What they were reading, what they were being taught, and what they were being told not to tell mommy and daddy at home” Clark said. 

Stefanie Boone, a mother of six children and concerned parent from a school district near Grand Rapids, shared how her children were segregated and bullied for their circumstances during and after students returned from lockdowns. 

“We have a governor who wants to focus more on bringing in divisive ideologies and sexual content into our schools and teach our children that that is more important than math and language arts and the PSAT for crying out loud, that is a problem,” Boone said.  “That is a problem that we need to address.” 

In an interview with Michigan News Source, Boone said, “My family has suffered greatly from the COVID lockdowns and measures.  Each of my children has a medical mask waivers for schools and have been segregated and discriminated against since the beginning.  They have been put in the back of the classroom.  My youngest was not allowed to play on the same playground as his friends outside – he was in 3rd grade at the time.”