Education

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / AP) ― A girl in pigtails bounds into the kitchen after school and asks her mother to guess what she learned that day. "I learned how a prince married a prince, and I can marry a princess," she exclaims to her mortified mom.

This television advertisement for the ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California urges voters to "protect children" by approving the measure.

The measure's supporters claim that public school teachers will be required to teach young children about gay marriage if the measure fails on Nov. 4 — and it has emerged as the central issue in the campaign.

But state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Wednesday that the claim by Proposition 8 supporters just isn't true.

"I've seen the spots on the TV, and (legalized gay marriage) just isn't going to require any kind of teaching of personal relationships or lifestyle," O'Connell said. "That's just not an accurate statement or portrayal."

As a result, O'Connel has now joined the state's largest teacher's union in opposing the measure.

Proposition 8's critics also note that schools already are required to teach tolerance of gays and lesbians, and the ballot measure won't change that.

They point out that many schools in California already use "King and King" — the book cited in the ads advocating a yes vote on Proposition 8 — to discourage discrimination against gay students or children with gay parents.

"The education code already has a high expectation that school districts are going to create an environment where respect for human dignity and acceptance of differences, including sexual orientation, are promoted," said Laura Schulkind, a San Francisco lawyer who represents school districts across California. "I don't see how the legalization of gay marriage or the passage of Prop. 8 changes that obligation."

The need for such awareness training was brought home to California in February, when a 15-year-old who sometimes wore feminine clothing and talked about being gay was shot to death at an Oxnard junior high school. A classmate has pleaded not guilty to murder and hate-crime charges.

"We have to address harassment and bullying, and there is no way to do that in America without talking about gay people," said Debra Chasnoff, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has made four documentaries to address anti-gay harassment in schools.

The opposing sides have debated what, if anything, schools must teach about marriage now that gays have the right to wed.

The state education code specifies that marriage should be discussed in sex education classes. But school districts are not required to hold the classes and parents can have their children excused if the course conflicts with their moral values. The vast majority of California districts do not teach sex ed.

"Current state law does not require school districts to teach anything about marriage or same-sex marriage," Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley wrote in ruling on Proposition 8's ballot arguments. He added, however, that the state "may require" such instruction in the future.

Robin Sinks, the health education specialist for the 90,000-student Long Beach Unified School District, does not think what is taught in California schools will change much regardless of what happens on Election Day.

Teachers in large, diverse districts now strive to make their sex education lessons relevant to straight, gay and bisexual students, Sinks said. "We're talking about really refraining from using things like, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, those kind of things, and just say 'partner,"' she said.

Gary Marksbury, a history teacher at Lakewood High School in Long Beach, plans to let his students debate Proposition 8 during a mock election, but he is so strongly opposed to gay marriage that he donated $1,000 to support the measure.

Marksbury said California should give parents more latitude to pull their children out of courses that offend their religious beliefs. "In today's world," he said, said, "it seems like tolerance is a one-way street for some people, so if you don't like the idea of same-gender marriage you are immediately labeled a bigot."

California gives local districts authority—and in the case of sex education, the imperative—to adopt curricula that reflect community mores while meeting certain standards. So what students hear about homosexuality in Long Beach schools may be different from what they learn in the more conservative Central Valley.

Wendy Robertson, a teacher at Forest Park Elementary School in Fremont, is not worried about having to explain same-sex marriage to her pupils. During her 17 years teaching kindergarten, Robertson said no one has ever told her to talk about any kind of marriage with her pupils.

If one of her pupils asked if he could marry his best buddy, Robertson said her answer would be age-appropriate.

"I would say, 'Wait and see, you have to be grown-up first,"' she said.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)