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CONTACT: press@noleftturn.us

2022 Georgia Legislative Update on Education Bills

No Left Turn in Education (NLTE) is a national non-partisan 501(c)3 organization with boots on the ground in 26 states, including Georgia.

We are NOT paid lobbyists.

NLTE will join Gov. Kemp's Education Bill Signing event. There, we will learn which bills will be signed into law.

All are welcome to join at:

1150 Dahlonega Highway

Cumming, GA 30040

at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 28.

Bills that passed the 2022 Session:

SB 226 by Sen. Jason Anavitarte - Sale or Distribution of Harmful Materials to Minors; provisions of Code Section 16-12-103 shall be applicable to libraries operated by schools. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Requires local boards of education to create a formal appeal process.
Requires principals to investigate an appeal within seven days of filed appeal.
Authorizes principals to decide what is harmful to minors.
Requires that the appealed book title be posted on a website accessible to the public for 12 months.

Concerns:

This bill allows school libraries to continue to provide physical books and online media resources that contain pornography and obscenity, such as Gender Queer and Fun Home (scroll down here).
Principals are the sole decision makers on what is harmful, despite definitions provided by federal and state obscenity laws.
Constituents without public school students are NOT allowed to file an appeal.
Bill stipulates if the appeal reaches the local school board, the party appealing can provide input in the form of a public comment at a local board meeting. Public comment does not allow for dialogue with school board.

SB 588 by Sen. Butch Miller - Local Boards of Education; all meetings of local boards of education shall be open to the public except as otherwise provided by law. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Requires local boards of education to make all meetings of a local board open to the public except for those that are legally exempt.
Requires local boards to create a code of conduct for public meetings and post those rules prominently on its main website.
States that members of the public may be removed from the meeting for a disruption per the adopted code of conduct.
Requires principals to investigate an appeal within seven dayys of filed appeal.

Concerns:

Community stakeholders are not invited to the creation of the code of conduct, and we are concerned that it will be used to silence civil discourse.

HB 1084 by Sen. Rep. Will Wade - Education; curricula or training programs which encourage certain concepts. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Requires public local boards of education and charter systems to ensure that teaching, curriculum, and training programs for employees and students refrain from "divisive concepts" (defined in the bill) related to discrimination based on race.
Prohibits school personnel from espousing personal political beliefs unto school personnel and students.
Provides a formal complaint resolution process with time constraints for alleged violations.
Provides a remedy if alleged violations have been proven.
Requires the Professional Standards Commission ensures training programs for teacher certification do not include divisive concepts defined in the bill (relating to race discrimination).
Creates an Executive Oversight Committee to provide governance and operational oversight for compliant high school athletic associations.
Authorizes participating and compliant athletic associations to adopt a policy to prohibit a student whose gender is male from participating in female athletic events.

Concerns:

Bill does not address compelled speech (impacting school personnel and students) regarding gender fluidity, which is a divisive concept.
Bill does not address prohibiting coursework that may be required for a grade or extra credit that is associated with any organization involved in lobbying at the state, local, or federal level, or any organization involved in advocating for social and public policy.
Bill stipulates if the appeal reaches the local school board, the party appealing can provide input in the form of a public comment at a local board meeting. Public comment can be two to five minutes for most boards, without response from the board, and it snot a dialogue.
Preferred language for this bil would have been to use biological male and female as opposed to student whose gender is male or female. The use of "gender" creates a slippery slope, especially with anticipated Title IX changes.
Protecting female sports should have been codified without creating more committees and giving this level of authority to a high school athletics association.

HB 1178 by Rep. Jason Bonner - Parents rights. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Parents have the right to enroll their child in a public school, private school, including religious school, or home school study program as they choose.
Local school systems must adopt policies/regulations that promote parental involvement in public schools. This policy must be posted on the local school or governing body's website.
Bill will provide transparency of primary curriculum by allowing parents to access the instructional material, as well as any student educational records within the review period.
Procedures must also be established for a parent to object to instructional materials intended for use in his or her minor child's classroom or recommended by his or her teacher.
Bill allows parents/legal guardians to provide a written notice stating that photographs/video or voice recordings of their child are not permitted if they do so choose.
Parents may also withdraw their child from sex education if a written objection to the prescribed course is provided.
The superintendent or school principal must provide information to parents within three days of the request.
Establishes an appeal process for parent request denials.

Concerns:

Bill does NOT require schools to make supplemental curriculum accessible to parents or permanent guardians, even if requested. This has caused 90% of the transparency problems in K-12 schools.
Bill does not include language that states parents have the fundamental rights over their children's physical and mental healthcare decisions.

SB 220 by Sen. Chuck Payne - Georgia Civics Renewal Act. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Provides a mandatory course of instruction in financial literacy for 11th & 12th grade students and related professional certification for educators.
Creates a Georgia Commission on Civics Education.
Commission can recommend legislation pertaining to civics education.
A third party non-profit civics organization has been included on the commission.
Members from the Georgia Superintendents Association and the Georgia School Board Association will also sit on the commission.
The state DEO will encourage local school districts to recruit and utilize supplemental resources from local and community organizations that promote civics and civics education.
Bill states, "It is the intent of the General Assembly that the commission shall promote and enhance the education of students on the importance of civic involvement in a constitutional republic, the study of state and local government among the state's citizenry, the importance of civic engagement and public service, and communication and collaboration among organizations in the state that conduct civics education."

Concerns:

Has the potential for enabling and empowering woke educators and third party organizations to bring Action Civics into the public school classroom. Schools should be free of ALL political agendas.
HB 1178 gave parents no rights to request or access supplemental curriculum, so why would we codify the use of supplemental curriculum?
Bill does not provide language to prevent compelled speech for teachers and students.
Commission can recommend legislation pertaining to civics education. Bill does NOT require schools to make supplemental curriculum accessible to parents or permanent guardians, even if requested. This has caused 90% of the transparency problems in K-12 schools.
Bill could lead to potential private funding of curriculum.
Bill does not provide language that would prevent the potential for issuing grades or extra credit for civic engagement. It seems this would be the purpose of the bill.
Bill does not mention promoting American patriotism.

SB 514 by Sen. Clint Dixon - Unmask Georgia Students Act. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Bill prohibits local school boards or any school personnel from requiring students to wear a mask or face covering on school property.
Bill does NOT require a reason or a student's health certification.
Bill prohibits disciplinary or academic consequences for students not electing to wear a mask or face covering.

NLTE comment - Thank you Georgia Assembly & Governor Kemp!

Bills that did not pass the 2022 Session:

HB 1217 by Rep. Chris Irwin - Student Technology Protection Act. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Bill proposed to prevent children in K-12 from being able to access online content of pornography and obscenity through their online media center resources.
PSA - It's an election year!

HB 60, HB 999 by Rep. Wes Cantrell - School Choice. Ralston killed the bill, per AJC article.

SB 601 by Sen. Butch Miller - School Choice. Click here to see how legislators voted.

Summary:

Better efforts need to be made to get school choice passed next session.

NLTE supports a school choice bill that allows the funding to follow the child so that Georgia parents can make the best decisions for their children's educational needs.

HR 1239 by Rep. Jason Ridley - House Study Committee on Transparency and Accountability for Nonpublic Schools Benefiting from Public Funds

Summary:

A resolution to create a committee ensuring that private schools that receive public funding are not engaging in unlawful discrimination and encouraging divisive concepts such as stating one race is inherently superior to another or that a person of one race is responsible for the entire race.

NLTE comment - This needs to be codified as opposed to a non-binding resolution.

SB 613 by Sen. Carden Summers - Common Humanity in Private Education

Summary:

Provides curriculum transparency in private and nonpublic schools.
Prohibits the teachings and teacher trainings of Critical Theories regarding race and gender that leads to discrimination.
Strengthens parents rights with respect to mental health concerns of their child brought up by the school.
Prohibits developmentally inappropriate discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in the school.

NLTE comment - We will focus our efforts to get this passed next session.

Issues not addressed in the 2022 session:

Closing the obscenity exemption loophole for Georgia school libraries.
School accreditation monopolies in Georgia - Cognia.
Protecting minor children from the harmful process of gender transitioning.
Prohibiting compelled speech regarding gender fluidity and sexual orientation (schools should not ask a child to define their pronoun or sexual preference in K-12 public schools).
Prohibiting the distribution of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in K-12 public schools.
Allowing parents to request and access supplemental curriculum.

Conclusion:

NLTE spent the legislative season engaging parents at the Capitol through testimony, speaking with legislators, and attending peaceful rallies. We will continue to actively engage citizens and encourage all Georgians to do the same.

What can you do between now and next legislative session?

Research how your legislators voted at www.legis.ga.gov.
Vote for legislators who are fighting for our children, not against our children.
Join or start an NLTE chapter in Georgia!
Donate to NLTE Georgia Chapter to help us keep fighting!

Melissa Jackson, National Chief of Operations & State President Georgia

e: melissa.jackson@noleftturn.us

About NLTE: No Left Turn in Education is a national grassroots movement of common-sense parents and community members from diverse backgrounds that seeks to revive in American education the fundamental discipline of objective thinking by educating, empowering, and engaging students, parents, and community, emphasizing the role of the parent as the primary custodian and authority of their child.