Our kids deserve honest, accurate information in school — not material designed by advocacy groups with a political agenda. Starting July 1, South Dakota public schools are required to show state-approved prenatal development videos under House Bill 1313, signed into law this year. One of the three videos the Board of Education Standards approved on June 2 comes directly from an anti-abortion organization. That's not science class — that's using our children's school day to push a particular viewpoint, and parents across the political spectrum should be concerned about that.
Families trust that what gets shown in a classroom has been vetted for accuracy and balance, not chosen because it lines up with one side of a debate. When the state hand-picks curriculum materials from groups with an obvious agenda, we're not educating kids — we're lobbying them. Teachers deserve better tools than that, and students deserve better than being a captive audience for advocacy content. This also sets a troubling pattern: if one political viewpoint gets state-approved curriculum space, others will demand the same, and our schools will become a battleground instead of a place to learn.
I'm asking you to publicly oppose the inclusion of the anti-abortion organization's video on the approved list and push the Board of Education Standards to remove it before the July 1 deadline. Our kids' classrooms should stay out of the culture war.
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