Senators defeated House Bill 1195, which declares the transgender policy adopted by the SDHSAA void, on Tuesday (3/10) one day after proponents of the bill successfully smoked the bill out on the floor.
Monday’s smoke out of HB 1195 lead to Senate Education committee members meeting to review the bill and voting 5-2 to send it back to the floor with a “do not pass” recommendation. HB 1195 was previously deferred to the 41st day by the committee.
ASBSD opposed the bill.
During the bill’s initial committee hearing, ASBSD Executive Director Wade Pogany said school boards were concerned HB 1195, along with House Bill 1161, which limited the rule making authority of SDHSAA as in adopting policies related to sexuality or gender identity, could put school boards in a precarious spot.
“It’s a sensitive issue. This issue will always fall back on the school boards,” Pogany said during the initial hearing. “We need to make sure we don’t set school boards up for failure.”
Pogany added ASBSD has been in the process of drawing up sample school board policy that boards could choose to adopt to help guide them in the process of accommodating a transgender student.