Georgia legislators are working to pass a bill that would grant parents the right to decide whether or not their child should learn about gender ideology in the classroom.
Knowing what is being taught in the classroom has been a concern of parents all over the country, and Georgia legislators are working to pass a bill that would give parents the right to decide whether or not their child should learn about gender ideology in schools.
In February 2023, the Georgia Senate debated and passed a parental rights bill, Senate Bill 88 Parents and Children Protection Act. The bill passed along party lines in a 6-3 vote in the Senate and Education Youth Committee.
“We worked in earnest to make this bill fair while still achieving our goal of making sure children’s parents are involved in a sensitive and often life-changing issue,” said Sen. Carden Summers (R-Cordele).
Under this legislation, both public and private schools would not be allowed to implement curriculum related to “issues of gender identity, queer theory, gender ideology or gender transition.” It also seeks to prevent schools from allowing a student’s record to be altered based on their gender identity without obtaining the consent from the child’s parents.
“No person shall modify a child’s official public or private school records based on the child’s gender transition or a change in the child’s gender identity without the written consent of each of the child’s parents,” the bill reads.
Public schools should develop policies by January 1, 2025 that would address the handling of gender identity issues.
If a public school violates the law, they would have their state aid withheld and be banned from participating in the sports organization, Georgia High School Association. It also threatens to take away teaching licenses from educators and administrators.
Private schools that violate the law would be banned from getting state money provided by the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program for children with special educational needs.
Despite the bill appearing to have good intentions, especially when it comes to what is being taught in public schools, conservative organizations have expressed concerns that the bill seeks to add more regulations to private schools.
One of these groups includes the Georgia conservative Christian organization Frontline Policy
“The problem with SB 88 is it will in fact gut fundamental parental rights protections that Georgia has already put into law that we worked on in 2022,” Taylor Hawkins, the organization’s director of advocacy said.
He said it also “provides more requirements for private schools than it does for public schools. So it’s a situation where we support the intent of the bill, but the effect on parental rights and the effect on private schools is something that Frontline cannot align with.”
