Doherty Opposes Effort to Inject Identity Politics Into School Textbooks

Says Ridiculous State Mandates Dilute Ability of Schools to Teach Fundamentals

During today’s meeting of the Senate Education Committee, Senator Mike Doherty (R-23) expressed his opposition to legislation that would force school districts to buy textbooks from vendors on a list approved by the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) due to their incorporation of “inclusive material.”

“Our state spends too much time trying to incorporate identity politics into our curriculum, and too little ensuring that all of our students are proficient in the basics of reading, writing, science, and math when they graduate,” said Doherty. “The simple fact is a math textbook should teach math, a chemistry textbook should teach chemistry. A publisher that produces a textbook that effectively teaches those topics shouldn’t be barred for failing to reach some bureaucrat’s vague standard for ‘inclusive materials.’”

The legislation, S-2978, is sponsored by Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) and Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-31).

It requires the DOE to develop and maintain a list of textbook vendors that incorporate inclusive material in their textbooks and to distribute the list to school districts and make the list publicly available on the department’s website.

“Inclusive material” as defined in the bill means content in a textbook that reflects diversity in various categories including gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Under the bill, when a school district determines to acquire a new textbook, the district will be required to select the textbook from a vendor that is included on the department’s list.

Doherty said school districts and parents should have the power to select the textbooks used in their classrooms.

“My friend, Senator Ruiz, opposed the decades-long control of Newark schools by Trenton, which is why I was shocked to see her back this proposal to give Trenton even more power over schools across New Jersey,” Doherty added. “We’re not doing our children any favors by diluting their textbooks with someone’s idea of political correctness. Perhaps if our schools didn’t have to spend so much time complying with ridiculous state mandates, they could actually focus on teaching the fundamentals, which would prevent so many our college students from having to take remedial classes to learn things they should already know.”