Georgia Teachers and Parents Condemn Kemp’s Extreme Anti-Education Agenda

As Georgia Republicans ram HB 1084 through the legislature, teachers and parents have been condemning the dangerous classroom censorship legislation that could prevent students from learning a whole, honest, and accurate history of our nation.

The bill is a priority for Brian Kemp and a centerpiece of his extreme, anti-education agenda, which would pit parents against teachers, jeopardize Georgia kids’ education, and make teachers’ jobs harder — all in a shameless attempt to boost his own re-election campaign.

In addition to HB 1084’s censoring of what can be taught in Georgia classrooms, Kemp’s anti-education agenda would also make it easier to ban books and would ban transgender students from participating in sports aligned with their gender identity.

• Georgia parent: “‘Our teachers are amazing. I feel as if it’s questioning them and hurting them,’ [Cobb County mother Laura] Judge said.” (WSB-TV)

• Georgia teachers’ group: “‘They are attacks on the integrity and professionalism of educators,’ [President of the Georgia Association of Educators Lisa] Morgan said. ‘And they are an attack on the partnership that should exist between parents and educators for our students.’” (AP)

• Georgia teachers’ group: “Georgia Federation of Teachers President Verdaillia Turner said the divisive concepts bill is…putting educators in the crosshairs.” (Georgia Recorder)

• Georgia professors’ association: “Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia Association of University Professors, called the bills ‘educational gag orders.’” (Capitol Beat)

• Georgia education leader: “Atlanta Board of Education Chairwoman Eshé Collins said she worries about the impact these bills will have on the students…’We want our teachers to fully feel free to teach — and to teach what is necessary for our students,’ she said.” (GPB)

• Georgia professor: “‘It’s really just anti-education,’ [Jameson Brewer] said. ‘It’s anti-critical thinking; it’s anti-student.’” (GPB)

Read more about what teachers, parents and students around Georgia are saying: 

GPB: Caught in the middle of a Republican overhaul of education, teachers feel ‘under attack’   

• Jameson Brewer, assistant professor of social foundations of education at the University of North Georgia, said state policymakers are taking up an attack against teaching about race in classrooms that started under the Trump administration.

• “It’s really just anti-education,” he said. “It’s anti-critical thinking; it’s anti-student.”

• Atlanta Board of Education Chairwoman Eshé Collins said she worries about the impact these bills will have on the students — especially in the Atlanta school system where more than 72% of students are Black.

• “We know that those stories and what history tells us — and even the conversations — provide a level of critical thinking and analysis that we want our students and our children to be able to have,” Collins said. “We want our teachers to fully feel free to teach — and to teach what is necessary for our students,” she said. 

• Brewer, who teaches University of North Georgia undergraduates studying to become educators, said even his students are starting to think about what they can and can’t teach in their classrooms. 

• “It hampers teachers,” he said. “It will cause teachers to engage in some self-censorship just because it’s confusing. It’s not clear what these bills necessarily restrict and what they don’t.”

• After more than two years of navigating partisan politics surrounding COVID-19 policies in schools, Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said teachers are “exhausted.”

• “They are attacks on the integrity and professionalism of educators,” Morgan said. “And they are an attack on the partnership that should exist between parents and educators for our students.”

Capitol Beat: Georgia educators push back against bill restricting how race is taught in classrooms 

• Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia Association of University Professors, called the bills “educational gag orders.”

• “[Senate Bill 377] says certain concepts can be taught but only in an ‘objective’ way and without ‘endorsement,’” Boedy added. “To somehow divide education into divisive concepts that one can’t opine on and non-divisive ones that merit opinion is malpractice for an educator.”

• Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, which represents elementary and secondary teachers, said Republicans are launching an “attack on public education” by injecting themselves into an aspect of education where they don’t belong. 

• “Educators are experts on curriculum and instruction,” she said. “Educators should be in charge of curriculum and instruction, not elected officials.” 

• “Children are curious,” she said. “When we have this legislation attempting to censor how we are teaching history … the teacher in many cases will not answer a question. What message is that giving the child? … Children should be allowed to ask difficult questions.”

Associated Press: Georgia racial teaching bills focus on ‘divisive concepts’ 

• “We believe the bills are trying to hinder educators from doing their jobs,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. “We feel it is an attack on the integrity and professionalism of educators to insinuate these things.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia House approves bill to control how race is discussed in schools 

• “All this bill does is muzzle our teachers and make them into a straw man for political gain from the true divisive voices in our communities,” said Rep. Matthew Wilson, D-Brookhaven, a former sixth grade teacher. Wilson, who is white, cast the legislation as a reaction to the discomfort of white people about race in America. “This bill is whiter than the paper it’s printed on,” he said.

• Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, said such legislation creates an “adversarial” relationship between teachers and parents. She worries that overworked administrators will be barraged with parent complaints and will feel political pressure to substantiate them.

Georgia Recorder: Senate education panel advances ‘divisive concepts’ bill, stripped of college rules

• Matthew Boedy, Georgia chapter president of the American Association of University Professors, said he sent an email to Hatchett saying the bill would undermine the academic freedom policy set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. 

• “The bill lists these concepts and says you could have class discussions on them as long as it’s objective and without endorsement,” Boedy said. “Well, that would get into a problem if you want professors to profess and these are people who have educated opinions.” 

• Georgia Federation of Teachers President Verdaillia Turner said the divisive concepts bill is doing what its supporters claim they are trying to avoid: furthering racial divides and putting educators in the crosshairs. 

• “I challenge any lawmaker to go back and thumb through lesson plans themselves to see if any of us teachers are intentionally dividing children and or teaching concepts trying to brainwash children,” she said. 

WSB-TV: Lawmakers debate bills aimed at banning the teaching of critical race theory in Georgia 

• I think it’s a message of fear,” Cobb County mother Laura Judge said.

• “Our teachers are amazing. I feel as if it’s questioning them and hurting them,” Judge said.

GPB: Students protest critical race theory legislation at state Capitol

• Decatur High School seniors Ana Villavasso and Vinessa Taylor helped organize the protest only a few weeks ago after a teacher told them about the legislation.

• “Let those representatives know that their place is not in a classroom, especially if they’re not educators,” Villavasso said. “We need American history. It’s the history of people of color — not only Black history but all people of color.”

• “Banning us and prohibiting us from learning about our true history, it’s unhelpful for us to become citizens,” Taylor said. “This affects K-12 and university. So, if this enacts, then a whole generation of children won’t know anything about their true history.”

WABE: Georgia educators push back against bill restricting how race is taught in classrooms

• “Our systems have already faced cuts to the funding for public education over the past 20 years that have truly impacted the resources available and the quality of the lessons we are able to provide due to increased class size and everything that comes with underfunding our public schools,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. 

• “I would encourage them [legislators] to think about what the effect of this potential legislation will have on not only our public schools but on the students themselves,” said Morgan. “Our schools should be places where we invite children to be curious, and we should not be stifling that interest about why things are happening in the world around them and understanding their place in hopefully changing some of these issues.” 

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