ATLANTA — Democrats have called the Georgia’s “Parental Bill of Rights” proposal an overreach, saying it disrespects teachers. 

The bill — approved by senators Tuesday — would require local school superintendents or principals to provide documents related to a teachers’ curriculum within three days after a parent submits a request for the information. 

“If [schools] are unable to do so or get that information, they would be required to lay out a timetable within a 30 day window to get that information,” explained the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Clint Dixon. “If they’re unable to do so, the parent has the right to appeal to the local school board, which at that time, the local school board would be required to put that on their own a calendar for their next business meeting.”

Parents would also be able to appeal to the state school board.

Republican Sen. Marty Harbin said during the COVID-19 pandemic when students had to learn from home, parents have become more aware of what their child was being taught in schools, opening the door for the need for parental oversight.

“That’s caused part of the concern of what we’ve seen,” Harbin said. ”The parents have a right to know and speak on those issues, and to be able to speak to the people  that they ultimately pay with their tax dollars. They need that voice and I believe this is all about freedom of speech for the voice of their children.”

Democrat Sen. Elena Parent said the bill disrespects teachers by drawing a wedge between them and parents. 

“Here we empower a massive surveillance and document production effort that contributes to an atmosphere of classroom censorship and overburdening of already burdened systems, telling [teachers] we don’t trust them,” Parent said. “The subject of the investigation are these very teachers…I’ve heard from dozens of teachers in the past weeks and they described the process of developing and revising lesson plans to best meet their students’ needs…but now, teachers may be faced with complaints and a litigious process if they introduce a topic that even one parent disagrees with. This bill stifles this process, this love of learning that can be ignited, and it’s possible all of our students could suffer.”

Most school systems already have a system in place for parents to review their child’s school curriculum, Democrats have argued.  

Sen. Nikki Merritt referenced a group curriculum review process in Gwinnett County (where her children attend school) that allows review and gives input on curriculum and materials. She said Republicans are creating a nonexistent problem to create “political fodder.”

In the Colquitt County School District in South Georgia, the district’s communication officer, Angela Hobby, in an email said there have been no parental complaints this year regarding content at the district level, and “to our knowledge, we have not received one at the district level in several years.”

Parents in Colquitt County can fill out a district complaint form to complain about the curriculum or instructional materials and the complaint is heard by a committee. The district’s policy also allows a parent to file a written request with their child’s principal to remove any book or other item of instructional material from his/her child’s curriculum.

“I keep asking the question: Who’s been denying these parents information that they’re requesting so far? Are teachers not giving this information already? Again, we already have a process,” Merritt said.  

Senate Bill 449 further requires local schools to adopt procedures for parents to review records related to their child; procedures for a parent to access instructional materials; procedures for a parent to object to materials intended for instructional use in the class; procedures for parents to withdraw their child from sex education; and procedures for parents to provide written notice that photographs or recordings of their child aren’t permitted.

“When are they gonna have time and what’s it going to cost?” Merritt said. “The state is presenting this bill, but we’re punting [the writing of the] procedures to the local bodies. It seems like if we wanted a complete bill to target what you’re asking, we would have had those procedures here written [at the state level].”

Lisa Morgan, president of Georgia Association of Educators — an advocacy group for Georgia’s public school teachers — spoke against the bill during a committee hearing earlier this month. Morgan said teachers feel “attacked” by the proposal and several other Republican-led measures to censor certain topics and content from being taught in schools, particularly topics that relate to race and slavery.  

“There may be a group out there that represents teachers that are against this, but they don’t represent me. They don’t represent my children.” said Sen. Randy Robertson, who joined all Senate Republicans in voting for the bill Tuesday. He suggested that certain topics be taught by parents in their homes.  

“My children learn about history. They learned about slavery. They learned about everything. And any shortcomings in that, they learned at home about it,” Robertson added.

Republican Sen. Matt Brass said opponents of the bill are fighting against rights of parents and local control.

“There’s nothing more local than the individual,” he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “There’s nothing more local than the love between a [parent] and a child.  We are simply returning control back to the parents, giving them the rights that have been lost in certain cases. I don’t know how you can go back in your districts and say I’m against you.”

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for a vote.