The California legislature on Thursday passed a bill that would fine school boards that ban textbooks based on the inclusion of LGBTQ+ and racial classes in a bid to stem the escalating culture wars playing out in the liberal state’s right-wing enclaves .

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AB 1078 strengthens state enforcement of laws requiring diverse and inclusive education, and looks certain to get the governor’s signature. Gavin Newsom. The governor helped draft the legislation after a conservative school board in Temecula rejected a class about slain gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk.

The bill comes after local school boards, backed by conservative majorities, took up textbooks and gender identity issues, following national debate over an alleged violation of “parental rights.”

“California is the true state of liberty: a place where families, not political zealots, have the freedom to decide what is right for them,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement Thursday. “All students deserve the freedom to read and learn about the truth, the world and themselves.”

The bill explicitly requires school boards representing the state’s more than 1,000 districts to approve textbooks that “accurately reflect the cultural and racial diversity of our society,” and creates a process for district superintendents and the state to intervene if they fail to do so. .

Districts that fail to comply will face a “tax penalty” that will reduce their state funding by affecting local school funding formulas.

“This bill is government blackmail against our local people,” said Assemblyman Devon Mathis

(R-Visalia)

who voted against AB 1078.

The California School Boards Association opposed the bill, calling it “draconian and ambiguous,” because the state has long had laws requiring lessons on LGBTQ+ history and ethnic studies.

The bill sets a “troubling precedent” for the state to raise funding to penalize school boards, CSBA said, and will lead to “an unintended impact on the district’s programs, its employees and students.”

The move is a rare interference from state officials in California, which historically relies on “local control” when it comes to schools. But Assemblyman Corey Jackson (D-Perris) said it is necessary to protect children from discrimination.

“It will make California stand up against the disgusting practice of waging culture wars and stepping on the backs of vulnerable populations for political gain,” Jackson said Thursday in the Assembly.

Jackson said the bill “has nothing to do with local control,” and that school boards are still responsible for many curriculum decisions, but the state now has more accountability power.

In debates over the bill at the Sacramento U.S. Capitol, Republicans said they did not intend to discriminate, but were concerned about “age-appropriate” textbooks, especially when it comes to sex education.

State Senator Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove) voted against AB 1078, pointing to a case in Orange County where the district scrapped use of a digital library after a parent complained about a book titled “A Polar Bear In Love.” . In the Japanese book series, an older male polar bear tells a younger male seal that he wants to marry him “when you grow up.”

Democrats cast doubt on allegations of concerns about age-appropriate materials, saying parents can still control what their children read. They blame the Republicans instead of pursuing political gain through school boards.

“Too often, decisions about whether to ban books are driven by ideology, not facts,” said Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine), who voted in favor of the bill. “It’s done under the guise of obscenity or protecting our children, but we haven’t seen it happen like that.”