Controversial education bills pass next steps through Georgia House

ATLANTA — Georgia’s House of Representatives passed three controversial education bills that showed the divide between state Democrats and Republicans.

First, the House passed Gov. Brian Kemp’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, a bill that supporters insist increases transparency in Georgia’s public schools by guaranteeing parental access to student records including teachers’ instructional materials.

“It’s about transparency in our classroom so parents truly understand what their children are being taught,” said State Rep. Josh Bonner, R-Fayetteville. “It’s a way to increase that level of trust between our parents and our educators.”

But Democrats insists parents already have those rights under Georgia law, and that this will place an undue bureaucratic burden on teachers. They said this bill is nothing more than election-year rhetoric.

“It’s bumper sticker legislation of the worst kind,” said State Rep. Stacy Evans, D-Atlanta. “Teachers are going to pay the price.”

The House also passed a bill that would abolish so-called “Free Speech Zones” on college campuses and would instead open up the entire campus to free speech.

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“Free speech should not be limited to free speech zones,” said State Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs. “Free speech should be everywhere.”

But Democrats like State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, worry that the bill would actually open up college campuses to extremist groups and would prevent counterprotest against them.

“It codified the right to protest,” said Clark. “But it also codifies that you can’t disrupt someone else’s protest also known as a counter-protest.”

And House lawmakers also passed a bill that supporters believe would prevent teachers from inserting their own political beliefs into the classroom by banning the teaching of nine so-called divisive concepts. State Rep. Will Wade, R-Dawsonville, insists teachers could still teach about topics like slavery and civil rights but only in an academic context.

“This bill is focused on protecting students from the far radical ideologies that the media promulgates,” Wade said.

Democrats like State Rep. Dewey McClain, D-Lawrenceville, think the bill would frighten teachers away from teaching accurate history.

“I just think teaching true history is true history, factual history,” said McClain. “Let’s teach facts, and I think if we can teach the facts and history, I think people need to know what’s going on.”

All three bills could be headed to the Senate for a vote as soon as next week.

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