Senator Max Wise Admonishes Governor Beshear’s Veto of SB 150 Beshear Puts Party over Kentuckians’ Wish to Eliminate Woke Ideologies in Our Children’s Schools

Senator Max Wise Admonishes Governor Beshear’s Veto of SB 150 Beshear Puts Party over Kentuckians’ Wish to Eliminate Woke Ideologies in Our Children’s Schools

FRANKFORT, KY (March 24, 2023) – Senator Max Wise, the sponsor of Senate Bill 150, admonished Governor Andy Beshear’s veto of this important piece of legislation. SB 150 was recently introduced in the Senate before the bill filing deadline of this year’s regular session.

“It should come as no surprise that Governor Beshear put his party’s politics over the people of Kentucky, as he has done his whole political career,” Wise said. “The goal of SB 150 is to strengthen parental engagement and communication in their children’s education. This bill, which passed the Senate with bipartisan support, reinforces a positive atmosphere in the classroom and removes unnecessary distractions, like woke ideology and mandating use of specific pronouns in our schools.

Parents should look at this veto as a slap in the face. It’s clear Governor Beshear cares more about woke ideologues and D.C. bureaucrats than parents and students here in Kentucky. I look forward to the legislature overriding this veto, and protecting children from the irreparable harm of gender transition surgeries by making SB 150 law.”

SB 150 resulted from conversations with educators, superintendents, and parents across the commonwealth. It is one of the largest omnibus bills in the country strengthening protections for Kentucky’s children. SB 150 bans transgender surgeries for those under the age of 18, bars any human sexuality curriculum for students in K-5th grade, provides expected privacy rights for restrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms that align with a child’s biological sex, and prohibits the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Board of Education from recommending or requiring policies to keep minor students’ information confidential from their parents.

Under the bill’s provisions, a school district must notify parents of health and mental health services offered and if their children seek those services through the school. Another tenet of the bill would empower parental engagement and awareness of school courses, curriculum programs, or instruction related to human sexuality by requiring a school district to provide parents with two weeks' prior notice and an opportunity to review materials before instruction begins.

Under SB 150, if a student’s parent objects to an assignment on human sexuality, the school must provide an alternate assignment. The bill also provides staff and students First Amendment protections by ensuring nobody is compelled or required to use pronouns that do not conform to a student's biological sex.

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Senator Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, represents the 16th Senate District, including Adair, Allen, Metcalfe, Monroe, and Taylor Counties and eastern Warren County. He is Senate Economic Development, Tourism and Labor Committee chair. Wise also serves as a Senate Education Committee member and is a member of the newly formed Families and Children Committee and Health Services Committee. Additionally, he is an Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee member.

Please visit https://legislature.ky.gov/Legislators%20Full%20Res%20Images/senate116.jpg for a high-resolution .jpeg of Wise.