A year after its passage, Georgia’s so-called Book Ban Law is causing confusion and censorship in our schools.
The law was passed in April 2022 Senate Act 226allows parents and guardians to file complaints about the content of “material” in their children’s textbooks and in school and class libraries.
Georgia public schools are now required to have a grievance resolution policy that allows for the appeal of material believed to be “harmful to minors.” The law defines it as sexual content that appeals to “lustful, shameful, or morbid interests of minors” and lacks “serious content of literary, artistic, political, or scientific value to minors.” This definition mirrors the US Definition of obscenity by the Supreme Court.
If a parent or legal guardian submits a written complaint about school supplies, the school principal has seven days to investigate whether the material is harmful to a minor. The decision to remove or limit the student’s access to the offending material rests solely with the school principal, although the school board may conduct a review.
The Georgia Department of Education provides no guidance for school principals to determine whether material meets the definition of “harmful to minors” and does not provide specific steps for handling complaints. that of the department Sample Complaint Resolution Policy merely repeats the requirements of the law.
The law undermines students’ constitutional right to information. In the case of 1982 Island Trees School District vs. PicoThe Supreme Court found that school libraries provide students with “an opportunity for self-education and individual enrichment” and that public school boards are not at liberty to restrict students’ access to library books “simply because they do not like the ideas contained in those books.” In the court’s words, “student rights under the First Amendment can be directly and sharply violated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library.” But Georgia is now giving any parent the opportunity to initiate a process that will do just that.
Another year-old law in Georgia only makes matters worse. SB 377, also known as Georgia’s “divisive concepts” law, regulates whether and how teachers can discuss issues such as race and ethnicity in the classroom. Both laws deprive students of their right to receive information under the First Amendment, and the combination has led to insecurity and normalized censorship.
Nan Brown, coordinator of the Georgia Library Media Associationreports that teachers in Georgia have begun censoring both what they say to their students and the materials they keep in their classrooms. Some teachers have limited or entirely avoided They discuss issues like the Civil War or figures like Martin Luther King Jr. for fear of jeopardizing their jobs, Brown said.
At the Georgia General Assembly session that just ended, lawmakers considered promoting even more censorship in our schools. Senate Act 154 would have held school librarians criminally responsible for distributing “harmful materials” to minors. Fortunately, the bill did not pass this year. But it could reappear in 2024.
What would such a law mean for Georgia schools? To see the damage it could do, we only have to look at one state.
In 2017, the Florida Legislature passed legislation (House Law 989) This was a precursor to Georgia’s SB 226. Florida law lacks detailed guidance on how to resolve grievances, resulting in this significant uncertainty among educators over what books they are allowed to have in their classrooms, paving the way for teachers’ self-censorship, which deprives students of their First Amendment right to receive information.
Last year, Florida lawmakers not only passed their own “divisive concepts” bill, they passed it HB 1467, which requires all books in school public media centers, as well as all books assigned or recommended by teachers, to be pre-approved as content appropriate by the school’s media specialist. A public educator who gives students access to unauthorized materials can be prosecuted.
Schools are unable to shoulder the administrative burden of this year-old law. For example, in Duval County, Florida, a mere 54 media specialists are responsible for examining 1.6 million titles in the county’s 200 schools. Fear of criminal prosecution and a backlog of course materials awaiting review have prompted Florida teachers to do so Wrap up entire class libraries and donate them.
SB 154 would have similar consequences in Georgia. The proposal — which remains in effect for the 2024 General Assembly session — would expose educators to possible arrest and prosecution for simply having books and resources in their classrooms, with no real, workable guidance as to what materials are allowed are and which are not.
Georgia must learn from the mistakes we’ve already made in following in Florida’s unconstitutional footsteps. Criminalizing the well-intentioned behavior of teachers and restricting students’ access to educational information would put us on the path to even more censorship in our schools.