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Two Education Initiatives Enter Circulation

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of two new initiatives may begin collecting petition signatures for his measures.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the first measure is as follows:

EDUCATION. PERMITS PARENTS TO EXCUSE CHILDREN FROM INSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND FAMILY LIFE. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Allows a parent or guardian to request that a public school excuse their child from instruction in family life or social sciences when such instruction conflicts with the religious training and beliefs or personal moral convictions of the parent or guardian. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Minor school district costs to accommodate students who request to be excluded from certain instruction. (11-0075)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1551 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0075.

The Attorney General's official title and summary for the second measure is as follows:

EDUCATION. REPEALS NON-DISCRIMINATION REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL INSTRUCTION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Repeals requirement that schools prohibit instructional materials that reflect adversely on persons based on their sexual orientation. Repeals requirement that school instructional materials recognize societal contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: This measure would not impose additional costs on school districts. (11-0074.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1552 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0074.

The proponent for these measures, Richard Rios, must collect signatures of 504,760 registered voters – the number equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – for each measure, in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 150 days to circulate petitions for these measures, meaning the signatures must be collected by June 11, 2012.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (714) 333-0340.

To sign up for regular ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed, or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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