The culture wars dominating American politics are threatening to seep into the Missouri public education system, according to authors of a report from PEN America, a literary and free expression organization.
Since 2021, legislators in Missouri’s General Assembly have introduced 31 bills aimed at reforming the education system, the most from any one state. Only one, Senate Bill 775, which restricts access to “sexually explicit materials” in libraries, was passed into law.
Bills that so far have fallen short of passage include the establishment of a Parent’s Bill of Rights, creating an easily searchable database of curriculum and teacher training materials and monitoring the expression of gender identity in children.
