South Carolina Republicans are one step closer to restricting how teachers discuss race in K-12 classrooms.

As conservatives across the country impose a ban on the so-called critical race theory, the state senate approved a like-minded effort in a late-night vote of 27 to 10 on Wednesday after nearly six hours of debate. Parents can challenge any educational material they say violates banned teachings around white privilege and implicit bias under a bill sent back to the GOP-controlled House.

The bill lacks the explicit expression of critical race theory.” It instead prevents teaching that an individual bears responsibility for past actions committed by other members of his race, and that one is inherently privileged or disadvantaged or should receive favorable treatment because of their race.

The bill states that nothing stands in the way of teaching about the history of ethnic groups or evidence-based discussion of controversial periods and current events. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said the bill encourages educators to teach students about slavery and Jim Crow, but within the historical facts.

H.3728 prevents the subjective opinions of those seeking to rewrite American history from creeping into South Carolina schools, Massey said in a statement.

Democratic Senator Dick Harpootlian wondered who would determine the facts. He worried that parents might challenge lessons that the Civil War was fought over slavery, not state rights.

So much buzz, but what is critical race theory?

Harpootlian, 74, who is white, added that while he and some black colleagues all grew up under segregation, they didn’t share the same experiences or facts.”

When I think back to the 1950s and ’60s, and my history of growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, the facts I know aren’t necessarily the facts you know, he said.

Opponents said vague language would cool teachers’ speech and purify the truth. Democratic Senator Ronnie Sabb asked how teachers should handle the deadly January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot as parents who mistakenly view it as an act of patriotism challenge lessons calling it an attempt to thwart democracy.

Democrats noted that the debate took place on the same date the state passed a 1740 law that made it illegal for enslaved people to gather in groups, earn money and learn to read.

Senator Mia McLeod linked the enslavement of black people to contemporary inequalities that opponents fear would be left out of the discussion. She pointed to racial disparities in sentencing, generational wealth and health outcomes.

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Instead of prioritizing a solution in search of a problem, I just wonder why we chose not to focus on the problems that we all know systematically exist, she said.

The measure would also ban any mandatory gender or sexuality training and require age-appropriate material.

Republicans cited a few instances of teachers presenting inappropriate or unapproved outside material. Democrats argued that local school boards had already addressed those situations by firing the teachers in question.

Palmetto state teachers

Association Assn.

Executive director Kathy Maness has said the banned concepts are not widespread. Maness, who previously sought the Republican nomination for state superintendent of education, told the AP last month that most teachers have nothing to worry about.

Black parents look for schools that affirm their history in the midst of bans

The bill requires school districts to announce on their websites that parents may review the curriculum and establish a grievance process for disputed material. Parents could view selected titles online and view their content in person.

Complaints must be made by the parents and must undergo specific steps from the principal to the superintendent, the local school board and finally the public school board.

Republican Senator Larry Grooms said the process allows parents to know what their children are learning. Opponents argued that it amounts to cumbersome oversight that would increase stressors for a profession already facing record job vacancies.

Senators struck a House-inserted provision that would have allowed parents to sue any district they accused of teaching banned concepts. Another deleted section allegedly forced teachers to post changes to classroom materials three days before they started class.

The bill would strengthen a budget caveat prohibiting state funds for school districts that inculcate a similar list of ideas.

Opponents noted that parents have already mentioned that provision in challenges to books like Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You. A local NAACP branch south of the Pickens County School District last month about its decision to remove the title from its classrooms and libraries.

We should not give the power and authority to those who want to weaponize such legislation, Sabb said.

___James Pollard is a member of the Corps of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.

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