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COLUMBUS — Faith leaders are applauding Ohio’s top school board as it voted 10 to 7 to approve a resolution Tuesday affirming local control and parents’ rights. The resolution was written after radical changes were proposed by the Biden Administration in June to Title IX, a federal program protecting students from discrimination based on sex. One pastor is elated.
“This resolution passed today by the State Board of Education is further confirmation Ohioans do not accept the Biden Administration’s radical redefinition of biological gender,” says Pastor J.C. Church. “The federal government has no right to come in between parents and their children. According to the Bible, it would be wise for Joe Biden to not move ancient boundary stones from our Western Civilization.”
State Board Member Brendan Shea, of London, introduced the resolution in October stating the proposed Title IX changes “contradict the plain language of the original law,” and requires school “sports teams to be based on gender identity rather than biological sex” while granting “access to sex-separate facilities based on gender identity rather than on biological sex.”
“This is a foundational issue,” said Shea. “The issue of boys and girls and restrooms and sports it’s a foundational issue and I think if you’re going to consider yourself a leader, as an individual or as a board, at the state level I think you ought to take a position.”
Further, the resolution states the Biden Administration’s proposed regulations “require K-12 schools to socially transition minor children to a different gender without requiring parental consent.” Shea also states the regulations deprive students of their First Amendment right to speech.
“This resolution passed today by the State Board of Education is further confirmation Ohioans do not accept the Biden Administration’s radical redefinition of biological gender. The federal government has no right to come in between parents and their children. According to the Bible, it would be wise for Joe Biden to not move ancient boundary stones.”
Pastor J.C. Church
The State Board of Education in the resolution calls upon the Ohio General Assembly to resist federal executive branch attempts to undermine the original intent of Title IX. It urges the General Assembly to safeguard the inviolable rights of parents, the innocence of children, the rights, privacy, safety, and opportunities of women and girls in schools and athletics, and local control of school districts.
Ultimately the resolution supports Ohio’s status as a local control state and is intended to inform schools districts, not to compel them to take a particular course of action.
In it the resolution directs the acting Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue within twenty-one days, a copy of the resolution to every Ohio public school indicating that while the board opposes the proposed changes, it does not compel public schools to take a particular course of action.
Regardless, the changes to Title IX remain unenforceable until the U.S. Department of Education reviews the more than 200,000 comments submitted during a public comment period this past summer. The process to finalize the regulations could take months or even years.
The resolution states the board supports the efforts of the Ohio Attorney General. A lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General David Yost and twenty-one other attorneys general claim the Biden Administration’s proposed policies are illegal. In July, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled in their favor, temporarily blocking parts of the new Title IX protections. A final ruling is still pending.
According to Pastor Church, “In the long run, this decision may strengthen the resolve of local school boards who want to resist the divisive identity politics coming out of Washington D.C.”
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Proverbs 23, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; He will take up their case against you.”
View the video from WBNS 10TV News (3 minutes)
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