Oregon’s use of trans pronouns in K-5 education fires up school choice movement

A school district in Oregon is under fire for introducing LGBT-inspired “neo-pronouns” to K-5 students in Beaverton, strengthening the impetus of the school choice movement there. 

Neo-pronouns such as “ze/zir” are used to express so-called gender identities in place of traditional pronouns such as “he/him” and “she/her.”

“I think this kind of divisive curriculum will continue to push parents to seek public school alternatives and be in favor of school choice legislation and ballot measures,” MacKensey Pulliam, founder of Oregon Moms Union, told The Lion.

Documents obtained by Fox News revealed lessons in the Beaverton School District targeted at K-5 students in the books They, She, He, Me: Free to Be! by Matthew Smith-Gonzalez and Maya Christina Gonzalez, and The Pronoun Book by Chris Ayala-Kronos.

The curriculum follows the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) guidance published at the first of the year supporting radical gender ideology.

“When used in this document, the term gender expansive is meant to represent the myriad of system-impacted gender identities, expressions, and assignments, including but not limited to transgender, nonbinary, Two Spirit, intersex, agender, genderqueer, and genderfluid identities,” said the ODE’s guidance. 

Meanwhile, tests last year show the state’s scores for elementary students plunged. 

“The Oregon education system is failing our kids,” Pulliam said. “Oregon schools are prioritizing political agendas and assigning pronouns to kids while academic rigor has fallen off a cliff.

“The Oregon Department of Education just released a 48-page guide to help schools manage gender expansion in students, yet there has been no plan to catch our kids up on two years of learning loss.”

In grades 3-8, only 39% of students in Oregon scored proficient at reading and writing in 2021, down from the previous low of 51%. Just 28% scored proficient in math for the same year, down from the previous low of 4%, reports Oregon Live.

In 2024, voters in the state may be able to vote on two school choice amendments which are currently in a signature-gathering phase. One would allow parents to choose to send their children to any public or charter school in the state via a lottery process. The other would provide state funds to parents to pay for private, religious and homeschooling costs.

“I think parents are tired of a system that is prioritizing everything but academics,” Pulliam said. “Many parents were forced into finding alternative education options for their children [during the pandemic] and found that those options were a better fit for their students rather than the public school one size fits all model.”