In accordance with a recently passed law in 2023, the California school system is now requiring all 7th–12th-grade teachers and certificated school employees to undergo annual LGBTQ “cultural competency” training and testing. Developed by activist organizations, the training labels those with traditional Christian beliefs about sexuality and biological sex as “homophobic” or “transphobic.” It instructs employees to protect students’ “privacy” from their own parents and to use so-called “preferred pronouns” such as they/them or ze/zem. The training concludes with a test to ensure school employees repeat the state-approved beliefs about sexual orientation and gender ideology. (Image via Pixabay)
An alarmed former elementary school principal, Brett Loring, and current Director of Student Services at a TK–8 district in Northern California, is one of several concerned Christian educators who have reached out to the California Family Council. “It’s not training; it’s programming,” Loring said. “It’s telling teachers what to think and how to respond to students, no matter what their own beliefs or the parents’ beliefs are.”
The curriculum, mandated by the California Safe and Supportive Schools Act, AB 5 and AB 130, was funded with $2.4 million in taxpayer dollars. These funds support online courses designed by LGBTQ advocacy groups in partnership with the California Department of Education and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Organizations such as the ACLU, Equality California, the Trevor Project, OUT for Safe Schools, the California Teachers Association, and the California State PTA helped craft the training outline—called PRISM—but school board members and parents have struggled to access the full material.
CFC has spoken with several school board members who have been denied access to PRISM training in their districts. One Southern California school board member was even told by his superintendent that the Department of Education will not allow school board members to view the material.
Recently, however, CFC obtained a recording of a teacher taking the LGBTQ “cultural competency” training and final exam as promoted by AB 5 and PRISM. While the PRISM website allows districts to create their own “substantially similar” version of the course, the content must still meet the same ideological standards. (read the ED code for details) Yet since the PRISM online training is free to school districts, it is assumed most school boards will opt for the no-cost version.
Hellbound and Down 