Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 25 other state attorney generals are trying to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to let parents have the final say in what their children are taught in school and their religious upbringing.

Yost and the other attorney generals gave an amicus brief challenging a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals allowing a Maryland school district to deny parents' request to have their children excused from lessons on sexuality that conflicts with their religious beliefs.

"District officials have overstepped their authority with an unconstitutional ban on parental discretion," Yost said. "They have no right to overrule parents who raise religious objections to sex education."

This ruling was in response to parents attempting to sue Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland in 2023 due to the district announcing that it was no longer letting parents opt their children out of schoolwork involving "pride storybooks."

The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the school board last May but the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

The coalition of attorney generals argues that Montgomery's policy is unconstitutional and "permits a local school district to impose its preferred ideology on young, impressionable minds over their parents' religious objections."

The brief closes with a call to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse this decision and require that schools allow parents to opt children out of sex education, noting that the state of Maryland is one of the many states that permits opt-outs on any instruction involving family life and human sexuality.

Yost is joined by attorney generals from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.

Download the WFMJ app for your Apple or Android smartphone or tablet to get our push alerts as news happens.