Reynolds, Republicans legislate parenting

Senate File 496 requires books in public schools be “age appropriate.” I find this legislation particularly offensive. What books young people read is not the responsibility of the Iowa Legislature or the governor. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor what books and literature their children read. This is referred to as “parenting,” and it is unacceptable that Gov. Kim Reynolds and our Legislature even remotely conceive that the citizens of Iowa need them to legislate their parenting preferences.

It is the mission of public and school libraries to ensure the libraries contain a cross section of literature that supports the entire cross section of citizens. If Reynolds wants to assist parents in monitoring what books their children check out of a library, then she should help school libraries create a common data base that would allow parents to regulate what books their children are allowed to check out of the library, not deprive others from access.

Parents have the right to train and educate their children about the world. There are as many different paths as there are people and probably no path that every parent would totally support. However, that path is a parent decision and not to be legislated by Reynolds, her legislative cohorts or her new pals in the Moms for Liberty.

I defy Reynolds or any of our legislators to explain what drives them to believe that Iowa parents need their legislation to parent.

Steve Springer

Cedar Rapids