Georgia lawmakers seek to make educational curriculum more transparent
CUMMING, Ga - Georgia leaders met with parents in Cumming to discuss concerns about education and critical race theory was top of mind. State representatives said their bills will make schools more transparent, but parents said the bills didn't go far enough.
About 35 people gathered to discuss education bills up for consideration at an unlikely meeting site in Cumming.
"A town hall at a funeral home, the joke writes itself," Rep. Wes Cantrell said.
In all seriousness, he and representatives Josh Bonner and Chris Erwin were there to lay out the reasoning behind a bill called the "Parent's Bill of Rights" and another that focuses on appropriate use of technology in schools.
The Parent's Bill of Rights would allow them to request school curriculum. Schools have to provide it in a certain amount of time. If it isn't given by the deadline, the issue goes upward to the local and potentially state school board.
It does not oversee secondary materials teachers may use in class.
Parents at the meeting said they viewed this as a way teachers could teach critical race theory, which said race is a social construct and examines the intersection between race and laws in the US.
"I want to know the reasoning why you excluded supplemental resources," Mike Valdez said.
Representatives said there is no certain way to police supplemental sources.
"But I do believe taking initial step with transparency is going to address concerns," Bonner said.
Rep. Erwin said his bill modernizes previous laws that oversee educational devices. He said the last bills addressing these concerns are from 2006.
"Imagine 2006. You think we're doing things differently virtually today than we were doing in 2006? Yes. So we are updating with our bill what we are allowing our students to see. We had to define obscenity right off the bat," he said.
That led parents to recall concerns about other bills on the table, mentioning obscenity in certain books and sex education classes.
Rep. Cantrell said his bill allows public school families to use part of the state money to send students to class in other ways.
The meeting was just under three hours and the parents in attendance said they'll follow the proposals closely.
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