Current:Home > FinanceGeorgia Senate considers controls on school libraries and criminal charges for librarians-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Georgia Senate considers controls on school libraries and criminal charges for librarians
View Date:2024-12-23 19:30:54
ATLANTA (AP) — A proposal that would require school libraries to notify parents of every book their child checks out was advanced by Georgia senators Tuesday, while a proposal to subject school librarians to criminal charges for distributing material containing obscenity waits in the wings.
The measures are part of a broad and continuing push by Republicans in many states to root out what they see as inappropriate material from schools and libraries, saying books and electronic materials are corrupting children.
Opponents say it’s a campaign of censorship meant to block children’s freedom to learn, while scaring teachers and librarians into silence for fear of losing their jobs or worse.
Georgia senators are also considering bills to force all public and school libraries in the state to cut ties with the American Library Association and to restrict school libraries’ ability to hold or acquire any works that depict sexual intercourse or sexual arousal. Neither measure has advanced out of committee ahead of a deadline next week for bills to pass out of their originating chamber.
The state Senate Education and Youth Committee voted 5-4 Tuesday to advance Senate Bill 365 to the full Senate for more debate. The proposal would let parents choose to receive an email any time their child obtains library material.
Sen. Greg Dolezal, the Republican from Cumming sponsoring the bill, said the Forsyth County school district, which has seen years of public fighting over what books students should be able to access, is already sending the emails. Other supporters said it was important to make sure to guarantee the rights of parents to raise their children as they want.
“I can’t understand the resistance of allowing parents to know what their children are seeing, doing and participating in while they’re at school, especially in a public school system,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican.
Opponents said it’s important for students to be able to explore their interests and that the bill could violate students’ First Amendment rights.
“This is part of a larger national and Georgia trend to try to limit access,” said Nora Benavidez, a lawyer for PEN America, a group that supports free expression. “The logical endpoint of where this bill, as well as others, are taking us is for children to have less exposure to ideas.”
The proposal to make school librarians subject to criminal penalties if they violate state obscenity laws, Senate Bill 154, is even more controversial. Current law exempts public librarians, as well as those who work for public schools, colleges and universities, from penalties for distributing material that meets Georgia’s legal definition of “harmful to minors.”
Dolezal argues that school librarians should be subject to such penalties, although he offered an amendment Tuesday that makes librarians subject to penalties only if they “knowingly” give out such material. He argues that Georgia shouldn’t have a double standard where teachers can be prosecuted for obscenity while librarians down the hall cannot. He said his real aim is to drive any such material out of school libraries.
“The goal of this bill is to go upstream of the procurement process and to ensure that we are not allowing things in our libraries that cause anyone to ever have to face any sort of criminal prosecution,” Dolezal said.
Supporters of the bill hope to use the threat of criminal penalties to drive most sexual content out of libraries, even though much sexual content doesn’t meet Georgia’s obscenity standard.
“If you are exploiting children, you should be held accountable,” said Rhonda Thomas, a conservative education activist who helped form a new group, Georgians for Responsible Libraries. “You’re going to find that our students are falling behind in reading, math, science, but they’re definitely going to know how to masturbate.”
Robert “Buddy” Costley, of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders, said the bill won’t solve the content problems that activists are agitated about.
“My fear is is that if we tell parents that this is the solution — your media specialists, the people that have been working for 200 years in our country to loan books, they’re the problem — we will have people pressing charges on media specialists instead of dealing with the real problem,” Costley said.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Mixed Use
- Israel targets Hamas' 300-mile tunnel network under Gaza as next phase in war begins
- Vermont police say a 14-year-old boy has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a teen in Bristol
- Baton Rouge company set to acquire Entergy gas distribution business
- Target will be closed on Thanksgiving: Here’s when stores open on Black Friday
- Francis Lawrence Reveals Hunger Games & Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Casts' Connection
- Hamas releases video of Israeli hostages in Gaza demanding Netanyahu agree to prisoner swap
- AP PHOTOS: Israeli families of hostages taken to Gaza caught between grief and hope as war rages on
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul press conference highlights: 'Problem Child' goads 'Iron Mike'
- New oil leak reported after a ferry that ran aground repeatedly off the Swedish coast is pulled free
Ranking
- Dick Van Dyke says he 'fortunately' won't be around for Trump's second presidency
- North West, Penelope Disick and Their Friends Bring Girl Power to Halloween as the Cheetah Girls
- Las Vegas police use patrol vehicle to strike and kill armed suspect in fatal stabbing
- Robert De Niro loses temper during testimony at ex-assistant's trial: 'This is all nonsense!'
- As Northeast wildfires keep igniting, is there a drought-buster in sight?
- 3-month-old found dead after generator emitted toxic gas inside New Orleans home, police say
- Cornell student arrested after antisemitic threats made against Jewish campus community
- Vikings get QB Joshua Dobbs in deadline deal with Cardinals in fallout from Cousins injury
Recommendation
-
A growing and aging population is forcing Texas counties to seek state EMS funding
-
Giant of the Civil Rights Movement Medgar Evers deserves Medal of Freedom, lawmakers say
-
What are witch storms? Severe weather pattern could hit Midwest in November
-
What should you do with leftover pumpkins? You can compost or make food, but avoid landfills
-
Pie, meet donuts: Krispy Kreme releases Thanksgiving pie flavor ahead of holidays
-
Henry Winkler on being ghosted by Paul McCartney, that 'baloney' John Travolta 'Grease' feud
-
Largest Christian university in US faces record fine after federal probe into alleged deception
-
Lift Your Spirits With a Look at the Morning Talk Show Halloween Costumes