In a move that some may find ostensibly odd, members of the Michigan Legislature are threatening to dissolve the Michigan Board of Education to replace it with a governor appointed adviser.
The action comes after members of the board of education released a set of guidelines for schools to better support transgender students. As this is likely in response to the recent rash of bills floating around legislatures across the country that either bar or allow transgender individuals from using the bathroom of their gender.
Republican members of the state legislature believe that the proposal is a way for the left to inflict a progressive agenda on schools and students, and are now threatening to get rid of the board all together.
One lawmaker said that the board should remember that the legislature controls money that flows to education, which is a not so veiled threat towards the viability of the board.
But to defend its position, the board has said that the proposal for schools regarding the health of transgender students is simply that and not a change in rules. Schools aren’t obligated to follow what the board has proposed and may completely ignore them.
Republicans have also attempted to take money away for the purpose of traveling for school board members. It seems that, more than anything, some members are feeling powerless.
From one member reminding the school board of who controls money in the state to lawmakers attempting to defund the travel budgets of board members, the Republican arm of the legislature is interested in pecking order and not the vitality of education in the state.
Transgender youth deserve protection and money shouldn’t be used as a wedge issue in the name of fighting against an agenda that has likely been misidentified.
For what its worth, the legislature is unlikely to rid the state of the board of education. It is simply attempting to send members a message.
