ICYMI: Parents & Educators Condemn Kemp’s Anti-Education Laws “Designed to Rev Up GOP Voters”

Kemp’s Signs Anti-Education Laws with “Eye on Conservative Voters” – Not Georgia Students or Teachers

Yesterday, Brain Kemp signed a slew of anti-education bills into law that attack teachers, pit parents against educators, politicize Georgia schools, and jeopardize kids’ education. The new laws have been widely characterized as attempts to “rev up GOP voters” and generate support for Kemp among the MAGA base as he faces a nasty primary – putting politics ahead of Georgia students’ education.

After Kemp’s bill signing in Forsyth County, local parents and educators held a press conference to denounce the new laws, pointing out the hypocrisy of Kemp’s accusations against teachers as he inserts his own partisan agendas into Georgia classrooms.

CBS46: Gov. Kemp signs controversial education bills into law

• “He wants to campaign,” said Forsyth County parent Angie Darnell, “and he’s trying to win the favor of people who have believed all of this rhetoric and a lot of the sensationalized stories about what’s happening in public schools.”

WSB-TV: From banning ‘divisive concepts’ to parent’s bill of rights, Kemp signs education bills into law

• “It feels like a political stunt, and we are here because we want to make it known that this is not what Forsyth County parents want,” parent Laura McConn said.

FOX 5: Kemp signs bills targeting ‘divisive concepts’ in schools, trans girls playing sports

• “We do not want Kemp to think that everyone agrees with these bills he is signing into law today,” said Forsyth County mother Becky Woomer.  “Even though he has come to what he probably thinks is a deep red county, there are a lot of people here who don’t feel that way and we feel these bills harm teachers and harm student learning.”

• Woomer called the bill signings “a political ploy” by Gov. Kemp and said he was the one politicizing education.

Read more about Kemp’s new anti-education laws, designed to support his re-election campaign:

AJC: Kemp’s education policy designed to rev up GOP voters

• But the comprehensive effort to put K-12 schools on the political front lines, cemented Thursday at a bill-signing ceremony in Forsyth County, also risks alienating teachers and others who oppose the election-year overhaul.

• Becky Woomer, a Forsyth County parent who opposes the education package, said the bills “pose a burden on teachers while limiting student freedom to read and learn.”

• “It feels like a political ploy on the part of the Republican Legislature,” Woomer said. “Political meddling in schools is the real ‘divisive concept.’ ”

• The governor, meanwhile, is also facing pressure from critics on his right flank for not acting more aggressively earlier in his term. At Sunday’s WSB-TV debate, Perdue accused Kemp of waiting “until the last minute to make this an election-year issue.”

GPB: Kemp signs into law hefty education package with eye on conservative voters

• Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Thursday a number of controversial education policies that have dominated election-year culture wars.

• Earlier this year, the Republican governor pledged to enact broad school reforms in an effort to cater to conservative parents and curry favor with voters as he approaches the May 24 primary.

• Educators say they’ve felt attacked by Republican lawmakers who have driven successful efforts to curtail lesson plans they’ve taught for years. They also testify that many of the new laws open the floodgates for parents to launch a wave of complaints about teaching materials.

• A small group of protestors lined the road up to the Forsyth County Arts and Learning Center ahead of Kemp’s bill signing ceremony. Forsyth mother and candidate for the county board of education Janna Kregoski was among them. 

• She said she worries about the educational development of her 4-year-old son if, when he gets old enough, he maybe won’t be challenged to think critically about race and racism. “You’re making it so we can’t learn from that history,” she said. “So that our kids don’t have the benefit of seeing the problems that previous racism has caused in our country.”

AP News: Kemp’s Georgia bill-signing tour aims to end Perdue’s hopes

• Some of the school bills only came onto Kemp’s radar this year with the broader conservative ferment over education, and may be aimed at protecting Kemp’s right flank from attacks by Perdue. 

• Angie Darnell, a Forsyth County parent and member of a group that opposes conservative efforts, said at a Democratic news conference that Kemp’s claims that teachers would try to indoctrinate students was a “blatant and false political ploy.”

• “It’s outrageous that Brian Kemp is inserting partisan agendas into the classroom just to try and win an election,” said Darnell, a Cumming resident. “Because for him that seems to be what it’s all about. Not parents, not students. Just a reelection campaign.”

• Becky Woomer, a Forsyth County parent and another member of the group opposing the changes, protested outside the bill signing. She said a noisy minority of conservative activists are restricting others’ freedoms.

• “There’s a freedom to read that our students have that needs to be protected, and a freedom to teach that our teachers have that needs to be protected,” Woomer said.

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