2006 Senate Bill 1305 (Allow single-gender public school or class )

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Introduced by Sen. Samuel B. Thomas, III (D) on June 14, 2006, to establish that the state Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act does not prohibit public school districts from establishing and maintaining a single-gender school, class, or program within a school if a comparable school, class, or program were made available to pupils of each gender. Under current law, the Act prohibits an educational institution from discriminating against a person because of religion, race, color, national origin, or sex. See also Senate Bill 1296.
- Referred to the Senate Education Committee on June 14, 2006.
  - Reported in the Senate on June 20, 2006, with the recommendation that the bill pass.
- Amendment offered in the Senate on June 21, 2006, to clarify that the single-sex class or school is only legal if a comparable school, class, or program were available to pupils of each gender. The amendment passed in the Senate by voice vote on June 21, 2006.
Passed in the Senate (32 to 5) on June 22, 2006. [Vote Details and Comments]
Received in the House on June 22, 2006.
- Referred to the House Education Committee on June 22, 2006.

Most Recent Comments

1) Actually, as a teacher, glad they brought middle sex up [by Anonymous Citizen on July 28, 2006]
I don't think it's fair to say the poster is trying to ADD on layers and being difficult or trying to sabatoge this bill. It's something that should be in the back of our minds. If a district were to be 100% single sex schools are near 100% it could REALLy become an issue. So be careful, legislators and educators. Remember equality and compassion. Of course, we are not going to have a class for one or two students. It would be totally unfair to single them out.
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2) You SHOULD plan ahead exactly how to address middle sex issues [by Anonymous Citizen on July 28, 2006]
No one is trying to keep this bill from going forward. It seems to have a great deal of support, but if a district were to go ENTIRELY male/female as opposed to a small percentage of the schools offering single sex option within a district then you would be fighting some SERIOUS sex discrimination legality issues. It would be MUCH better to plan how you are going to handle it sensitively in advance and what percentage of schools might be reasonable so that such students/families would not be backed into a corner or forced to move out of the district. That would not be fair either.
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3) I think ambiguous gender would only be an issue if ALL schools did it [by Anonymous Citizen on July 28, 2006]
That is not the case so far. It is very much a choice and quite limited. It may need to be addressed at some point, though. Good point.
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