The Pennsylvania Department of Education voted Wednesday to allow Christian education organizations that support the biblical worldview on human sexuality to become nationally recognized teacher accreditation bodies at a special committee meeting.
Christian School International Association (ACSI), Christian organizations that provide accreditation to private Christian schools across the country are applicable to become Pennsylvania. 4th state approved Accreditation body. Pennsylvania Legislature activist groups and members opposed the group because of its biblical worldview on human sexuality. Local Reports From the Lancaster Online Newspaper.
ACSI legal counsel Randall Wenger said at the meeting that ACSI could be “targeted” by Pennsylvania legislators due to religious beliefs during the conference’s public comment period.
Wenger explained how ACSI applications with the Pennsylvania Department of Education have been moving forward without any issues until they read the story locally. Lancaster Online Newspaper The Ministry of Education suddenly reversed their positions.
“We read the Lancaster newspaper and the state Department of Education overturned their position,” Wenger said.
“We also read that there were democratic lawmakers who sent me a memo to the board that the state board said was saying. [Pennsylvania Gov. Josh] The Shapiro administration should not formally support the ACSI because of its religious beliefs. If the Lancaster newspaper has said it is true, then ACSI is targeted by some people because of its religious beliefs. And because of that belief, religious organizations should not be treated as second class applicants. ”
We celebrate the lives of transgender individuals who have lost their lives to violence.
Pennsylvania should not live in fear of their safety + no bias.
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– PA Ministry of Education (@padeptofed) November 20, 2021
The Pennsylvania Department of Education did not respond to a request from the Daily Caller News Foundation for comments on why it overturned the recommendation. (Related: Exclusive: Document reveals how America’s largest abortion provider took over Sex Ed and promoted LGBT ideology in schools)
Democrat state Senator Lindsay Williams, a Members of the State Board of Education He attended the conference, opposed ACSI and proposed a “conflict with existing Pennsylvania law” in a published statement, with group material on LGBTQ+ students.
More than 44,000 Pennsylvanians have identified as transgender. They are human and deserve all protection under the law.
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– Josh Shapiro (@joshshapiropa) March 31, 2021
“I am particularly concerned about the material on the website about LGBTQ students and the conflict between existing Pennsylvania laws, particularly the Pennsylvania Relations Act and the PA Fair Education Opportunity Act,” Williams said. “These laws are in place to ensure that all students are safe and free from discrimination and harassment when they are in school. Lancaster Online Newspaper.
Williams did not respond to DCNF’s request to make further clarification of her statement.
“There’s an ideology that’s causing problems here. The ideology that says that the biological boys that identify as girls should be treated as girls for all purposes, such as these bathrooms, locker rooms, sports teams,” Wenger said. “ACSI’s religious beliefs go against ideological commitments.”
ACSI did not respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
In a statement provided to the DCNF, Wenger outlined why state accreditation is important to ACSI.
“Many Christian schools want to be accredited for the reliability of their schools and want ACSI to become an accreditation body due to their relationship with ACSI. ACSI wants to be recognized as an accreditation body to serve those schools in the best possible way, with a star of recognition that they are in compliance with state standards,” Wenger said.
“There is no business in the state that deny this benefit to ACSI. Unfortunately, the Special Committee on Accrediting Private Schools voted against ACSI based on the PDE’s recommendation,” Wenger said.
The National Board of Education Final decision on ACSI Applications during the meeting at 9am on Thursday
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