One deals with transparency education
Annapolis, Md. (KM) – About 23 pieces of legislation have been introduced in the 2022 Maryland General Assembly by the Minority Caucus. Frederick County Delegate Jesse Pippy (R), whose a member, says these bills include measures to reduce regulations and taxes, support law enforcement and crack down on violent criminals.
He says other bills include “making more transparency in education curriculum, giving better notice to parents related to school, and, also, reducing government overreach.”
Pippy says the legislation dealing with education would require public school systems to post what they teach children on line, and allow parents to have access to it. “Parents should have an opportunity to know what is being taught in the school, whatever the material is,” he says. “And so what this bill does is actually require school districts and give access to parents on line.”
In some locations around the country, what is being taught in the classroom has been controversial, especially when it comes to slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow Laws. It has sometimes led to legislatures and boards of education banning certain topics from the classrooms, and ordering controversial books removed from school libraries. . But Pippy says this bill deals with access parents have to the curriculum at their children’s schools. “It’s more about transparency. It’s not necessarily specific to any one issue or topic. But I think parents need to be in the driver’s seat. A kid is the important asset a parent has, and how we educate our kids is extremely important,” he says.
Pippy says he’s also working on bills to protect the state’s children. He says he prides himself on sponsoring bills attacking human trafficking, domestic violence and protecting children. He says this year he’s sponsoring legislation which “protects children from sexual predators, dealing with indecent exposure and other egregious child pornography-type offenses.”
In addition, he says he’s introduced legislation to expand programs providing scholarships to family members of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says the current program covers children of veterans, but not his bill would expanded that to step-sons and step-daughters. “We’re honoring the service of the member. And if the member happens to have a step-son or somebody else in the household, we want to make sure they have that opportunity to succeed as well,” he says.
The 2022 Maryland General Assembly began on Wednesday, January 11th, and is scheduled to adjourn on Monday, April 11th.
By Kevin McManus