On March 9 of this year, 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis passed new education legislation in Florida for the 2022-2023 school year. The Parental Rights in Education bill (House Bill 1557), more commonly called the “don’t say gay” bill, places a ban on public schools discussing LGBTQ+ topics. This bill would require school faculty and staff to report any and all information about a student to their parents, regardless of student privacy.

What do these actions mean for students, parents, and the public schools of Florida?

To begin, the Parental Rights in Education bill states that it would, “prohibit a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a specified manner.” Now, what does this mean exactly? The bill has specifications for what grade levels this applies to. The prohibition of this educational topic is only for students in the grade levels kindergarten through third grade. For students above third grade, grades 4-12, the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity can be presented in a classroom, however only in an “age-appropriate manner.” For students in health classes, generally in grade seven, the deemed age appropriateness of these topics could impact their education about mental and physical health.

Students above the fourth grade in Florida public schools will only be introduced to gender identity or sexual orientation in schools if it is presented in an age-appropriate manner. A downfall to using a phrase such as “age-appropriate” is the potential for different interpretations of the phrase. Every person has a different view or opinion on a topic, situation or action. Therefore, the definition of “age-appropriate” would be different for each school or district administrator. If a district decides that certain topics are not age-appropriate, then students of that said age will not be taught the material.

In September 2020, UCLA School of Law released a fact sheet of the estimated number of LGBTQIA+ teens (age 13 through 17) in the United States, listed by state. According to this fact sheet, Florida has roughly 114,000 LGBTQIA+ teens living in the state. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there are roughly 744,000 teenagers (age 14 to 17) who live in the state of Florida. The restriction of LGBTQIA+ education directly impacts over 15 percent of the state’s teenage population, which will mean that 15 percent of the high school students in Florida will be unfairly impacted in their education by law.

The second section of the bill will, “[prohibit] school district personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification & involvement in critical decisions affecting student's mental, emotional, or physical well-being.”

Again, what does this mean exactly? A school will not have the right to withhold information from a parent if it involves the students’ emotional well-being, mental health or physical health. If a student expresses a fear of their parents or guardians to their counselor, the counselor would legally be required to tell their parents.

However, there is a sub-paragraph added to this portion of the bill stating, “This subparagraph does not prohibit a school district from adopting procedures that permit school personnel to withhold such information from a parent if a reasonably prudent person would believe that disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect.” The subparagraph does provide a bit of relief to students who may be in this situation, but there is a small issue with the wording about what a “reasonably prudent person would believe.”

The reasoning for the issue in the wording requires some context; according to the Florida Department of Education, also known as FLDOE, there are 874,022 students in the public school system attending high school (there is a total of 2.8 million students K-12). Also according to the FLDOE, there is an average of 2,080 students per high school.

The provided statistics were meant to provide quantitative data regarding the public school system. As shown in the data, there is a large number of students attending public schools in Florida. Which shows there is a high possibility that school counselors, teachers and administrators could mistakenly overlook a student's home situation, or forget which students expressed fear that their information has to be shared. For students who are not in a great home situation, their parents will be suspicious when they are denied information that they could normally legally acquire.

The effect of this section for a student with an unfavorable living situation breaks what should be a fundamental value in a place of education: trust. If a student can not trust the place where they are meant to safely nurture their education, how can they be expected to use their maximum effort to grow and learn? Schools are a place where there should not be a genuine fear of small mistakes or a fear of being reported because a faculty member overheard a private conversation with a friend.

Although this is not a situation affecting California students, the impact that House Bill 1557 will have on Florida students is too big to ignore. The alienation of information should not be in education. Placing a barrier on gender identity and sexual orientation creates a deficit in the students' knowledge about their health. The breaking of student confidentiality can sow the seeds of distrust towards those who students should look to for guidance.