VOTE: NO – Died In Committee
Status (overview) of bill: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/HB2224
Personal Choice and Responsibility
Social-emotional development is the ability for children to form relationships and manage emotions by recognizing one’s own feelings and the feelings of others. This is directly out of the Common Core curriculum and Planned Parenthood agenda, which pushes kids beyond their brain development with over-kill on directing how they think subjecting them to indoctrination. Indoctrination comes from adults and teachers overly focusing on children’s social-emotional development by encouraging talking about one’s feelings to the point of directing those feelings. Discussing boundaries and modeling good behavior should be a given without a special program.
Fiscal Responsibility
The legislature has created an artificial need for this new program by reducing school counselors. Now a new program will cut into the budget for funding education. Appropriates $85,000,000 out of the General Fund beginning July 1, 2019. Establishes Student Social and Emotional Health and Development Account.
Limited Government
Expands government. Allows districts to use the grants to hire youth or family support professionals, facilitate the implementation of high-quality professional development, and build partnerships with health care organizations, agencies, coordinated care organizations, county governments, and non-profits. Requires the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) establish a list of curricula and training for students and school employees related to social and emotional learning. It requires ODE create two advisory committees; one advisory committee will administer the grant, and the other will create the list of curricula. It allows ODE to establish a statewide data sharing implementation team.
Local Control
Takes control out of local schools and centralizes a new program that distract from teaching. This is a substitute for counselors without the proper training.
As a former K-12 teacher, I believe that the time taken away from the teaching and learning of important skills and content to implement this program will stress the whole system. Parents, students, and teachers will complain of boredom, invasion of privacy, and its time slot will be used to schedule dental visits and other family activities. Worse, many parents will opt out to avoid what they see as schools propagandizing their students. It will join DARE in the file of failed time and money wasters.
Excuse me to hell and back. Where do you think that you get the authority to tell my child what is proper Social-emotional development? I personally have spent many years un-doing the junk that public schools indoctrinated into my sons. And now they are doing the same. So no, no, no, not ever do I want you to spend a dime of my money on your wacko ideas of what is normal and right in your perversion of society.