As parents continue to voice concern about what their children are being taught in school, Georgia lawmakers have committed to giving them a say in the matter. Republican senators have introduced a bill intended to give parents a responsible way to protest content they find obscene for minors. During a hearing on Tuesday state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, spoke to a House subcommittee on his SB 226.
Anavitarte is the primary sponsor of the bill which states that “harmful to minors’ means that quality of description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or sadomasochistic abuse, when it taken as whole, predominately appeals to the prurient, shameful, or morbid interest of minors.”
This legalese goes on to then say “is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and is, when taken as a whole, lacking in serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
If someone does feel a complaint should be made, it must be “submitted in writing to the principal of the school where the student is enrolled and shall provide a reasonably detailed description of the material that is alleged to be harmful to minors.”
According to the current Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia “each local board of education shall adopt a media policy that provides for the establishment of a media committee at the system level and at each school.” Furthermore it “requires development of procedures for the school system and for selecting materials locally as well as handling requests for reconsideration of materials.”
Anavitarte, a former Paulding County School board member, explained to InsiderAdvantage what prompted him to become the primary sponsor of this bill, saying, “I received many complaints about experiences parents have had and that was the impetus for creating this bill last January.”
“The goal of this bill is to ensure that parents have a pathway to appeal and discuss material with local elected school boards if they feel like there is some material that is inappropriate for their kids.”
“I think having some sort of mechanism from local school boards to determine what for each and everyone’s community drives home that parents are the best determination at the end of the day of what materials is being put in front of their kids whether it is in school or even outside school in different school settings I think it is really pushing the message that parents know what is best for their kids.”
Critics of the bill say they are afraid it may lead to harmful censorship of various lifestyles and that school districts should be able to decide their own standards of what is appropriate. They also fear that a school principal may not be the right person to determine what is ill-suited for minors to see.
Anavitarte countered, “At the end of the day this is an incorrect take because the bill gives local school boards and local communities the opportunity to determine what is best for their communities. I think it allows the public to have a transparent process so they know how it works with rules created by their school district and by their elected school board members who are accountable to the public on how to appeal certain materials they may find offensive.”
When asked about the prospects of this bill after the hearing, the Senator explained, “Rep. James Burchett, R-Waycross, has been very good to work with, he has been a good partner on this bill and also Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, R-Bremen, who chairs the subcommittee. Last year and this year we have been working together to approve this bill and would applaud both of those chairmen on their efforts to help get this bill done.”
Charles Clay, Jr. is a staff writer for InsiderAdvantage