Sponsors (23)
The bill aims to protect minors and clarify federal funding rules by restricting explicit sexual content in ESEA-funded materials, but it may substantially limit curriculum choices, reduce access to gender-identity–related supports, increase administrative/legal burdens, and shift costs to local communities.
Students under 18 in schools using federal ESEA funds will have reduced exposure to explicit sexual content in programs and materials paid for with those funds.
Schools and districts get clearer federal rules about what materials may not be purchased with ESEA dollars, reducing ambiguity for grant spending and compliance decisions.
Teachers and schools may be restricted from teaching or showing classic literature or art that discusses gender identity or contains sexual content, limiting curriculum choices and classroom instruction.
Students who are transgender or learning about gender identity may be excluded from supportive content or instruction paid for with federal ESEA funds, reducing access to medically and socially relevant information.
Relying on narrow external lists or definitions of 'classic' works could complicate textbook and curriculum selection, create administrative burdens, and invite litigation over permitted materials.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars use of federal K–12 education funds for programs or materials for minors that include sexually explicit content or material "involving gender dysphoria or transgenderism," while preserving certain classic and religious works.
Prohibits use of federal elementary and secondary education funds to create, run, host, or promote programs, activities, materials, or literature for anyone under 18 that include “sexually oriented material,” using the federal criminal definition of sexually explicit conduct and specifically banning exposure of children to nude adults, stripping, or lewd dancing. It also bars materials that “involve gender dysphoria or transgenderism.” The bill preserves classroom instruction in standard science courses, texts of major world religions, and identified classic works of literature and art by referencing specific published lists.
Introduced February 24, 2026 by Mary E. Miller · Last progress February 24, 2026