I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 216
To prohibit Federal education funds from being provided to elementary
schools that do not require teachers to obtain written parental consent
prior to teaching lessons specifically related to gender identity, sexual
orientation, or transgender studies, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. V
ANDREWintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To prohibit Federal education funds from being provided
to elementary schools that do not require teachers to
obtain written parental consent prior to teaching lessons
specifically related to gender identity, sexual orientation,
or transgender studies, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘My Child, My Choice 4
Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. WRITTEN PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIRED FOR 1
TEACHING OF INFORMATION RELATED TO 2
GENDER IDENTITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, 3
OR TRANSGENDER STUDIES. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—No funds under an applicable pro-5
gram may be provided to an elementary school determined 6
by the Secretary of Education under subsection (c) to not 7
be in compliance with subsection (b). 8
(b) W
RITTENPARENTALCONSENT.— 9
(1) C
ONSENT REQUIRED .—A teacher employed 10
by an elementary school shall, prior to teaching a 11
lesson specifically related to gender identity, sexual 12
orientation, or transgender studies, request written 13
consent from the parent of each student enrolled in 14
the class in which the teacher plans to teach such 15
lesson. 16
(2) T
IMING.— 17
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A teacher shall request 18
the written consent required under paragraph 19
(1) not later than 30 days prior to the date on 20
which the teacher plans to teach such lesson. 21
(B) D
URATION OF CONSENT .—A teacher 22
shall request such written consent each such 23
time the teacher plans to teach such lesson. 24
(3) S
UBMISSION.—A parent providing written 25
consent shall submit such written consent to the 26
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principal of the school not later than the date de-1
scribed in paragraph (2)(A). 2
(4) C
ONSENT NOT OBTAINED .— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of a stu-4
dent whose parent does not submit written con-5
sent under paragraph (3), the school shall pro-6
vide such student with an alternative period of 7
learning or study hall. 8
(B) 50
PERCENT REQUIRED .—If the prin-9
cipal does not receive written consent from the 10
parents of at least 50 percent of the students 11
enrolled in the class in which the teacher plans 12
to teach such lesson, the teacher may not teach 13
such lesson. 14
(c) E
NSURINGCOMPLIANCE.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Students enrolled in an ele-16
mentary school, parents of such students, and teach-17
ers employed by an elementary school may submit, 18
to the Secretary, a report that such school was not 19
in compliance with subsection (b). 20
(2) R
EVIEW.—The Secretary shall review each 21
such report and make a determination with respect 22
to whether the elementary school identified in such 23
report is in compliance with subsection (b). 24
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(3) DETERMINATION OF COMPLIANCE .—If the 1
Secretary makes a determination that the school is 2
not in compliance with subsection (b), the Secretary 3
shall— 4
(A) notify the school of such determina-5
tion; 6
(B) provide a period of 15 days after such 7
notification for the school to— 8
(i) comply with subsection (b); and 9
(ii) submit to the Secretary a written 10
confirmation of compliance with subsection 11
(b), which shall include— 12
(I) an identification of each re-13
quirement of subsection (b) with 14
which the school was not in compli-15
ance; and 16
(II) the plans and actions the 17
school is taking to ensure that the 18
school continues to be in such compli-19
ance; and 20
(C) evaluate the written confirmation sub-21
mitted under subparagraph (B)(ii) and make a 22
final determination with respect to whether the 23
school is in compliance with subsection (b). 24
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(d) FEDERALFUNDS.—If the Secretary makes a 1
final determination under subsection (c)(3)(C) that an ele-2
mentary school is not in compliance with subsection (b), 3
no funds under an applicable program may be provided 4
to such school for the school year immediately following 5
the school year in which such school is determined to be 6
out of compliance. 7
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
(1) A
PPLICABLE PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘appli-9
cable program’’ has the meaning given the term in 10
section 400(c) of the General Education Provisions 11
Act (20 U.S.C. 1221(c)). 12
(2) B
IOLOGICAL SEX.—The term ‘‘biological 13
sex’’ means the biological indication of male or fe-14
male in the context of reproductive potential or ca-15
pacity, including sex chromosomes, naturally occur-16
ring sex hormones, gonads, and nonambiguous inter-17
nal and external genitalia present at birth. 18
(3) ESEA
TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 19
school’’ and ‘‘parent’’ have the meanings given such 20
terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec-21
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 22
(4) G
ENDER IDENTITY .—The term ‘‘gender 23
identity’’ means an individual’s perception of their 24
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own gender or claimed gender, regardless of the bio-1
logical sex of the individual. 2
(5) L
ESSON.—The term ‘‘lesson’’ means a 3
planned and structured period of learning. 4
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 5
the Secretary of Education. 6
(7) S
EXUAL ORIENTATION .—The term ‘‘sexual 7
orientation’’ means an individual’s actual or per-8
ceived romantic, physical or sexual attraction to 9
other individuals, or lack thereof, on the basis of 10
gender. 11
(8) T
RANSGENDER INDIVIDUAL .—The term 12
‘‘transgender individual’’ means an individual whose 13
gender identity or behavior does not conform to that 14
typically associated with the biological sex of the in-15
dividual. 16
(9) T
RANSGENDER STUDIES .—The term 17
‘‘transgender studies’’ means the study of 18
transgender individuals. 19
Æ
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