California Slaps School District With $1.5 Million Fine For Rejecting LGBT Lesson Plans

California will be imposing a hefty fine of $1.5 million on the Temecula Valley Unified School District after the school board voted to reject a state-endorsed curriculum that includes LGBT lesson plans and a short biography of gay activist Harvey Milk.  In addition to the fine, the district will also be required to pay $1.6 million in shipping costs associated with providing the materials, NBC News reported.

“After we deliver the textbooks into the hands of students and their parents, the state will deliver the bill — along with a $1.5 million fine — to the school board for its decision to willfully violate the law, subvert the will of parents, and force children to use an out-of-print textbook from 17 years ago,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement Wednesday.

The 2011 FAIR Education Act requires California school districts to include “fair, accurate, inclusive and respectful references” to achievements from members of the LGBT community. “California will ensure students in Temecula begin the school year with access to materials reviewed by parents and recommended by teachers across the district,” Newsom said.

The governor previously referred to board members who rejected the lesson plans as “extremists” and vowed to purchase the textbooks for district students. “If these extremist school board members won’t do their job, we will — and fine them for their incompetence,” Newsom wrote in a tweet earlier this week.

The fine comes as California lawmakers are debating another bill that would allow state officials to fine districts that remove books containing “inclusive and diverse perspectives” from lesson plans. Additionally, the bill would require audits of district libraries to determine whether local school boards are sufficiently committed to diversity. Districts found to be lacking could face funding penalties.

“These book bans deny students their right to access a broad range of stories and perspectives and they create restrictions on teaching and learning, which impacts our educators and librarians and silences authors, most of whom [are] from marginalized communities,” Assemblymember Corey Jackson, who authored the bill, said during a hearing last week.

The bill previously passed the state Assembly in May. On July 5, it passed in the Senate Education Committee and is currently headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee.