Ohio lawmakers are gaining national attention for their misguided attempt to control from Columbus what can be taught in Buckeye State classrooms. House Bill 616 models itself after legislation in Florida, but tries to claw even more oversight away from local schools.

Sponsored by state Reps. Mike Loychick, R-Bazetta, and Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, the bill “Regards promotion, teaching-divisive, inherently racist concepts,” (sic) but then goes a step further to also ban the teaching or providing of “any curriculum or instructional materials on sexual orientation or gender identity” to students in kindergarten through third grade.

The Ohio law also calls for the folks in Columbus to have even more say over what is taught to your children by forbidding teachers of grades 4-12 from teaching or using “instructional materials on sexual orientation or gender identity in any manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

Why are lawmakers trying to regulate what can and can’t be taught in the classroom?

Isn’t that what we elect local boards of education to decide?