PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Florida lawmakers have drafted new bills for the upcoming legislative session that could bring subjects, including religion, into the classroom.
Brooke Sitton is proud to be a Christian, and she hopes one day her daughter will be too.
“We believe in the Lord and we believe it’s important we instill that in her at a young age,” Sitton explained.
That’s why Sitton says she supports two recently proposed bills to make religion an elective class for public high schoolers and for K-12 schools to teach different worldviews on evolution and climate change.
Florida lawmaker files bill to make Bible study a public school elective
“It’s good to learn different cultures and what different people believe. It can’t hurt, it can only help her,” Sitton elaborated.
Supporters say it’s a way to broaden students' thinking, but the idea makes mom Theresa Darlington cringe.
“I like being in control of that kind of messaging with my children and prefer schools not teach religion in schools,” the mom of boys age 4 and 8 explained.
The Pinellas County Teacher’s Union says the bills concern them too, knowing it could put teachers in tense situations.
“It would be an injustice to put teachers in that predicament. There is a place for religion and it’s not in public education,” says President Mike Gandolfo.
Both bills stress the subjects of religion, evolution and climate change would be taught objectively. If passed, the changes could come to your child’s classroom by next school year.
To read more about the propoed changes to evolution and climate change curriculum, click here.
To read more about the bill to make religion an elective in schools, click here.
