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HB 0888 - Education; treatment of race and other individual traits and beliefs; add new statutes and amend various existing statutes

Tracking Level: Watch
Sponsor: Brad Thomas
Last Action: 1/14/2022 - House - House Second Readers
House Committee: Education
Assigned To:
Local Board GovernanceNext Bill

Staff Analysis of the Legislation

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SUMMARY:  LC 49 0646

See also SB 375, SB 377, and HB 1084

This is a broad bill that is generally being referred to as a CRT bill although critical race theory is not mentioned.  Reading at least the opening of the bill (lines 17-52) is highly encouraged to understand the premise from which the sponsors are working. 

A.  State agencies, local boards of education, and public school personnel are prohibited from compelling any individual to "affirm, adopt, adhere to, profess, or promote concepts in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972, Code Section 20-2-131, and Code Section 20-2-315 including, but not limited to, the following:" 

1) That individuals of any race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin are inherently superior or inferior

2) That individuals should be adversely or advantageously treated on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin

3) That individuals, by virtue of their race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin

4) That governing systems or programs which were designed to identify, select, or promote participants on the basis of merit or work ethic are discriminatory or were created by members of a particular race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin to oppress members of another race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin

5) That any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress on account of the individual's race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin

6) That an individual's moral character is necessarily determined by the individual's race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin

7) That the United States is a systemically racist country 

The bill lays out some specific prohibitions for state agencies, local boards of education, or public schools: 

   a)shall not include, promote, or allow the use of any content standards, course, curriculum, or instructional plan, practice, program, or material that compels students to affirm, adopt, adhere to, profess, or promote any of those concepts

    b) shall not require or facilitate professional development or training programs for any school personnel which compel individuals to affirm, adopt, adhere to, profess, or promote any of those concepts

    c) shall not use public funds to contract with, hire, or otherwise engage speakers, consultants, trainers, or other persons to communicate with students, school administrators, teachers, or other personnel for the purpose of professing or promoting any of the seven concepts above or for the purpose of compelling or encouraging them to affirm, adopt, adhere to, profess, or promote any of those seven concepts 

B.  It prohibits any public school personnel from compelling or attempting to compel any individual to engage in or observe a discussion of any public policy issue.

C.  It prohibits any state agency, local board of education, or public school from requiring that any student participate in associations or activities for credit or to complete an assignment that engages in lobbying at the federal, state, or local level; engages in social or public policy advocacy; involves lobbying related to federal, state, or local legislation; or any partisan activity related to social or public policy advocacy.

     However, none of that should be interpreted as prohibiting individuals from observing or participating in lawful government processes or volunteering support for the lawful operations of federal, state, or local government agencies and organizations, including agencies and organizations of a legislative, judicial, or executive branch of a government entity. 

D. Beginning with 2022-23 school year, each public school shall include and maintain on the homepage of its website a link providing a detailed list of primary instructional materials used in all courses available at the school, including, but not limited to, the title, author, creator, and publisher of any book, periodical, treatise, article, recording, software, web page or paper. 

    Each public school shall review primary instructional materials of each course and update the online list of those materials on a semi-annual basis or more frequently as determined by the local school system or school administration. However, before a new course can be made available to students, the online list of primary instructional materials shall be updated to include the primary instructional materials for the new course.

     Each public school shall make all primary, supplemental, and ancillary materials (defined in lines 59-68) used or proposed for use by the school available for review on site upon request by any parent or guardian of a student who is or will be enrolled in such school or to a student who has reached the age of majority or is a lawfully emancipated minor and enrolled in the school.  The school may specify reasonable hours for such review provided that upon a timely request the review is accommodated by the school no less than 24 hours prior to the use of the materials.

E.  By August 1, 2022, each local board of education shall adopt a complaint resolution policy to address complaints alleging violations of any of the above provisions. The bill includes provisions for the policy:

-- Neither the district nor the school is required to respond to an applicable complaint unless it is made by a parent of a student enrolled at the school where the alleged violation took place; a student who has reached the age of majority or is an emancipated minor and is enrolled in the school where the alleged violation occurred; an individual employed as a school administrator, teacher, or other school personnel at the school where the alleged violation took place; the district attorney for the county where the alleged violation occurred; or the Attorney General.

-- The complaint must first be submitted in writing to the principal of the school in which the alleged violation took place

-- The complaint shall provide a reasonably detailed description of the alleged violation 

-- Within three school days of receiving such written complaint, the school principal or his/her designee shall review the complaint and take reasonable steps to investigate the allegations in the complaint

-- The school principal shall determine whether the alleged violation occurred in whole or in part

-- Within five school days of receiving the complaint, unless another schedule is agreed to by the complainant and principal, the school principal shall confer with the complainant to inform them whether a violation has occurred in whole or in part and what remedial steps will be taken if a violation occurred.  The confidentiality of student and personnel information will not be violated.

-- The school principal's determinations shall be subject to timely administrative review by the superintendent or his/her designee upon a written request by the complainant to the superintendent.

-- The local superintendent's decision following the review shall be subject to review by the local board per 20-2-1160.  Any party aggrieved by the Board's decision shall have the right to appeal to the State Board under 20-2-1160(b); any party aggrieved by the State Board's decision may appeal the decision to the superior court of the county where the local board is located. The court may award court costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party.

By July 1, 2022, the Department of Education shall promulgate a model policy for the complaint resolution process and develop guidance for districts to use when determining whether violations have occurred.  The model policy and guidance must be posted on its website.

Beginning September 30, 2023, and by September 30th each year thereafter, the State Superintendent shall provide a report to the State Board identifying each local school system and public school in which a violation has been found to have occurred by the State Board or a court.  The State Board shall withhold 20% of the state QBE funds for the district or school.  The Department of Education shall develop a corrective action plan for the district or school to remediate each violation found to have occurred by the State Board or court.  The QBE allotment is to be fully restored within 45 days of demonstrating to the satisfaction of the State Board substantial compliance with the corrective action plan.

Beginning November 1, 2023, and by November 1 each year thereafter< the State Superintendent shall submit a report to the House Education Committee and the Senate Education and Youth Committee a list of each local school system and public school in which a violation was found to have occurred by the State Board or court; and a list of each school system and public school whose QBE allotment was impacted, including the amount and length of time the funds were withheld. 

F.  Nothing in the bill is to be interpreted to prohibit any state agency, local board of education, or public school from including or allowing school personnel to use, as part of any content standard, course, curriculum, or instructional program, instructional materials that include the following:

      * the impartial and politically nonpartisan presentation of the research-based history of a particular race or ethnic group as described in textbooks and instructional materials adopted in accordance with state laws and local policies

      * the impartial and politically nonpartisan discussion of controversial aspects of history

      * the impartial and politically nonpartisan instruction on the historical treatment of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region 

     Nothing in the bill shall be interpreted to prohibit any individual employed by a state agency, local board, or public school when acting in his or her individual capacity and not within the scope of his/her employment from discussing the seven concepts listed above. 

      Except as described relating to the seven concepts and public policy discussion listed in A and B above, nothing in the bill is to be construed as prohibiting students, school administrators, teachers, or other school personnel from voluntarily engaging in or observing a politically nonpartisan discussion of public policy issues or other issues which some individuals may find unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive.

This code section can not be waived by the State Board. 

Lines 264-276 relate to postsecondary students, faculty, and personnel.

The purposes of a Quality Basic Education (20-2-131) are amended to add that no student shall be assigned any distinction or classification within any public school on account to ethnicity.  Race, creed, color, and national origin are already in the statute.

The core curriculum requirements under 20-2-142 and 20-2-142.1 are amended to be subject to the new code section 20-1-11 which includes all the prohibitions listed above. 

By the start of the 2022-23 school year, the character education program and character education program workshops required under 20-2-145 must comply with the new code section detailed above.

Elective courses in History and Literature of the Old and New Testaments under 20-2-148 must comply with the new code section. 

 

EFFECTIVE DATE:

July 1, 2022 with other effective dates as listed 


Bill Summary from the State Site - Click for the State Summary Page / Click for Current Full Text