Three-fourths of the nation's school-aged students are now educated under state-level measures that either require more teaching on issues like race, racism, history, sex and gender, or which sharply limit or fully forbid such lessons.
Since 2017, 38 states have adopted 114 such laws, rules or orders. The majority of policies are restrictive in nature: 66 percent circumscribe or ban lessons and discussions on some of society's most sensitive topics, while 34 percent require or expand them.
In one example, a 2023 Kentucky law forbids lessons on human sexuality before fifth grade and outlaws all instruction 'exploring gender identity.' On the other hand, a 2021 Rhode Island law requires that all students learn 'African Heritage and History' before high school graduation.
At public institutions of higher education - where courts have held that the First Amendment protects professors' right to teach what they want - the laws instead target programs like student or faculty trainings or welcome sessions.
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