- A school district in California rejected the state’s social studies curriculum because it contained Harvey Milk.
- On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to fine the district $1.5 million.
- The school board voted to accept the curriculum at an emergency meeting on Friday.
California school districts LGBTQ+ Leader It reversed the decision on Friday after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to fine the district $1.5 million.
The Temecula Unified School District board of directors called an emergency meeting Friday night and voted to adopt the curriculum, local TV news station KCAT reported.
On Wednesday, the board voted 3-2 to deny the state’s curriculum to include Harvey Milk, the state’s first homosexual elected to office. Board members focused on allegations that Milk was a pedophile in connection with a romantic relationship with Jack McKinley, which allegedly began when McKinley was 16. KCAT.
Newsom said in a video statement that the state will purchase social studies books that school districts have rejected for parents in the district.
“If these extremist school boards don’t do their job, we will fine them for their incompetence,” Newsom said.
Newsom said in an article accompanying statement On Thursday, the state announced that it would “bring a bill to the Board of Education, along with a $1.5 million fine, for its determination that it willfully violated the law.”
After the school board overturned the decision on Friday, Newsom said students would get “the materials they need to study” and the school board would have “a civil rights inquiry to answer.”
“This debate in Temecula is not about local control,” Newsom said. statement. “This is about a national ideological crusade desperate to silence diverse communities and erase our history.”