Ohio Republicans are dominating the 鈥渃ulture wars鈥� over schools and students, joining other states in passing a barrage of new laws involving race, ethnicity and gender with several more in the pipeline.

Both emboldened by President Donald Trump鈥檚 success in the 2024 elections and as a backlash against former President Joe Biden, bills pressing the Make America Great agenda in schools have accelerated and come in rapid fire.

In the past year, Ohio鈥檚 Republican supermajority has defended in court its 2023 bans of transgender athletes participating in school sports and including hormone treatments and blockers for minors. 

Since Trump鈥檚 November victory, the state has also passed or is still pursuing far right bills including a and a opposed by the LGBTQ community, while also opening the door for religious study by public school students and attacking 鈥淒iversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)鈥� efforts in both colleges and K-12 schools.

The bill affecting colleges, which also includes restrictions on teaching 鈥渃ontroversial beliefs,鈥� drew strong opposition but was

Ohio, the state with the sixth most students, is one of several passing similar bills 鈥� but the number and speed of them reflects the state鈥檚 shift to the right in recent years. Ohio was once one of the most reliable bellwether states in presidential elections, . But Ohio voted for Trump in 2020 and has now backed him in three state elections and the state is for what some consider extremism on education and other issues such as abortion. 

Troy McIntosh, executive director of education efforts for the Center for Christian Virtues, an Ohio nonprofit whose influence on legislators has grown in recent years, said Trump鈥檚 November win and the wave of bills are fueled by parent anger over how some social issues were framed and taught in online classes during the pandemic. It鈥檚 also a pushback against Biden giving transgender students more rights in ways some parents feel infringe on their own.

鈥淧art of the message the electorate sent in that election is, 鈥榣ook, we need to fix this,鈥欌�� McIntosh said. 鈥淭his is not something we support – these progressive, radical in many ways, interpretations of law,  of culture, ethics. So, sure, the (Ohio) General Assembly is responding to what the electorate told them they wanted.鈥�

Democrats, whose opposition to the Trump-aligned bills is regularly outvoted by the state鈥檚 Republican supermajority, said the bills distract from more pressing issues like school funding and improving learning, while also being destructive.

鈥淪ome of it is just the politics of fear,鈥� said State Senator Kent Smith, a Democrat from the Cleveland area. 鈥淚t’s a racist agenda, not the 鈥榦ut of many, we become one,鈥� which the country was founded on.鈥�

Bills like those passing in Ohio have cropped up in several states.Texas and Florida have led the way, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation, with other states like Indiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky each passing or proposing different combinations of bills, some directly focused on schools and others lumping schools in with all public services., for example, to pass some form of a parental bill of rights.

Many have centered on rights of transgender youth, which flared into national controversy when the Biden administration made gender identity, not just biological sex, a protected class under Title IX, a 1972 law against sexual discrimination in education. That led to debates over schools allowing transgender youth to use bathrooms they choose and over transgender students participating on sports teams, usually male students transitioning to female.

鈥淲e’ve seen really a host of state prohibitions, either through executive order or by legislation, related to gender,鈥� said Jonathan Butcher, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. 鈥淥hio is in the midst of it.鈥�

Trump is leading the charge to undo Biden鈥檚 guidance, most notably with orders in January declaring that there are just two sexes 鈥� male and female 鈥� and that only biological sex, not gender identity, counts in federal law. But Butcher said states need to take action, particularly with no federal laws in place to carry Trump’s plan out.

鈥淓xecutive orders are, of course, valuable and strong, but legislation is stronger,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need provisions right in law in order for these things to not just take effect, but also remain in effect.鈥�

Butcher said he isn鈥檛 as surprised as some at how much legislatures like Ohio鈥檚 have acted the last few years, saying it鈥檚 typical for changes and tempers to flare when emotional topics are debated, though he sympathizes with feelings of 鈥渨hiplash鈥� as the nation goes through it.

Ohio鈥檚 shift to the right didn鈥檛 start with these bills or Trump鈥檚 election. Vice President J.D. Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate for Ohio in 2022 and Republican Bernie Moreno just knocked off Democrat Sherrod Brown for Ohio鈥檚 other Senate seat in November. Republicans hold the majority in both state legislative houses, plus all major statewide offices including  auditor, attorney general and secretary of state. 

Republicans also prevailed in a statewide controversy over how state legislative districts are drawn that many say allows polarization of state politics to continue. Though the state supreme court ruled five times that Republicans had gerrymandered state House and Senate unfairly, Ohio voters sided with Republicans in November on a ballot issue that would have redrawn districts under a new process.

Critics charge that candidates don鈥檛 have to appeal to both sides, since districts are set up so races are really decided in Republican primaries.

鈥淚t (the legislature) has definitely moved towards a much more ideological conservative view,鈥� said Christina Collins, a former state school board member who now heads the left-leaning Honesty for Ohio Education nonprofit.

鈥淚t is easier for them to keep up these attacks and to keep the rhetoric going and the vitriol and to keep stirring their base, which is what seems to be happening,鈥� she said.

Ohio鈥檚 transgender bathroom ban, though proposed months earlier, passed after the November election. The state legislature followed that by passing a bill in December and creating a that requires schools to tell parents about 鈥渁ny request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex.鈥�

Schools must also inform parents before students can receive any mental health services, which would also include counseling over gender identity or sexual preference. While supporters praise the bill for letting parents, not schools, decide how to handle student sexuality issues, others blasted the bill as requiring schools to 鈥渙ut鈥� students and expose them to violence.

Schools have until July to set policy for how to inform parents, but counselors are bracing for a 鈥渃hilling effect鈥� the bill would have on students seeking any type of help.

鈥淢any students struggle with unsafe or unwelcoming homes, homes ravaged by poverty or stress, or even comfortable homes where students just sometimes feel the need to vent about family matters,鈥� Douglas Cook testified in hearings on the bill on behalf of the Ohio School  Counselors Association. 鈥淪chool counselors鈥� offices are safe spaces for those students.鈥�

鈥淭his will likely be incredibly jarring for students and result in their being scared that they will lose the privacy of having a safe listener available to them at school,鈥� Cook added.

This year, after Trump started his own campaign in January against what he called 鈥渞adical indoctrination鈥� in schools, Ohio quickly passed a ban on DEI in training and hiring in state colleges. The law also regulates teaching of 鈥渃ontroversial beliefs鈥� including foreign policy, diversity, immigration, abortion and climate change.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed that ban Friday after heated debates with 1,500 pieces of written testimony submitted and in protest. Opponents labeled it the 鈥淗Igher Education Destruction Act鈥� that amounts to state censorship of educators.

State Sen. Jerry Cirino, the bill鈥檚 author said it 鈥渨ill return our public universities and colleges to their rightful mission of education rather than indoctrination.”

In the latest move, bills blocking DEI in training and hiring, though not lessons, in K-12 schools are being heard in the Ohio House and Senate.

that would yank funding from schools that let students change their name or pronouns and another bill that would so schools can post them.

Support from voters for the new laws isn鈥檛 clear, though a found some backing. The poll found residents backed Trump鈥檚 order that there are just two sexes 61 percent to 32 percent. Support for anti-DEI policies was more narrow, 49 percent to 42 percent.