Each of these mechanisms could be used to punish a nonpublic school or university. While none of these copycat bills have become law as of August 2022, several have come close, and more seem likely to be introduced in 2023. School libraries have emerged this year as especially tempting targets for lawmakers. Youngkin Sets Up Email Tip Line to Report Divisive Teaching Practices, WDBJ, January 26, 2022. For instance, West Virginias SB 587 would have created a tip line that parents could use to report teachers where their fundamental rights are being violated, where their children are not being respected, and where there are inherently divisive practices being taught in schools.113West Virginia SB 587, https://legiscan.com/WV/text/SB587/2022. . such student or employee to believe certain concepts about race, color, national origin, or sex.45Florida HB 7, https://legiscan.com/FL/bill/H0007/2022. It is in the. Other bills would achieve a similar effect via a different route. . For the purposes of the bill, homosexuality was considered to be sexually explicit. A related set of bills would require that all instruction on controversial topics be balanced or objective. Many such provisions are adapted from the Partisanship Out of Civics Act model legislation developed by Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. More bills will likely also be introduced that target private K12 schools and higher education.. Stephanie Wang and Aleksandra Appleton, How Indianas Anti-CRT Bill Failed Even with a GOP Supermajority, Chalkbeat Indiana, March 10, 2022. Whereas last year it was quite common for gag order bills to target state agencies, political subdivisions, and state contractors, reference to these institutions has been more or less absent in bills introduced this year. Other bills have taken a different approach to targeting private institutions: they have folded their gag order language into state civil rights statutes, thereby exposing private institutions to civil suits. A few more failed because of the vagaries of chance. Excerpt from PEN America mapping showing the markets of highest action recorded by the PEN America program against writers in 2021. (F) presentation of political spectrums as measured by the factors of state control versus individual liberty, regardless of economic model. Glossary of Terms: Transgender, GLAAD Media Reference Guide, 11th Edition. HB 7 also deals a significant blow to academic freedom. This law states that classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards. The law also creates a private right of action, permitting a parent to sue a school it believes violated HB 1557 and recover damages in court.79Florida HB 1557, https://legiscan.com/FL/bill/H1557/2022. On their face, by prohibiting compelled speech, these gag order bills appear to adhere to existing First Amendment doctrine. Government attempts to silence those who study, document, and debate history are typically also an attempt to exert a sole narrative over the past, one that serves the interests of the present.. Additionally, two executive orders that achieve similar ends have gone into effect. Others have restricted LGBTQ+ identities in new and troubling ways. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. Numerous bills have required teachers to post on a publicly accessible website all course materials, assignments, and lesson plans prior to using them in instruction. A few died thanks to effective politicking by their opponents; this list includes multiple gag order bills in Indiana, which were defeated in 2022 amid political gaffes, citizen pressure, and disagreements among Republican legislators over whether the bills went too far or not far enough.6Stephanie Wang and Aleksandra Appleton, How Indianas Anti-CRT Bill Failed Even with a GOP Supermajority, Chalkbeat Indiana, March 10, 2022, https://in.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/10/22971488/indiana-divisive-concepts-anticrt-bill-failed-gop-supermajority/. For a more detailed analysis of recent book-banning trends, see PEN Americas April 2022 report, In broad terms, the educational gag order bills introduced since 2021 contain three distinct types of prohibitions: on compulsion, on promotion, and on inclusion of so-called divisive concepts.. Bills that have become law in 2022, as well as executive orders enacted this year, are singled out for special analysis in Section I. . The bans in these bills are both pithy and absolute, with no elaboration on how these standards would be judged. According to the professor, Alexanders argument violates HB 7s rule against promoting the view that [a] persons . The committee cut off public comments before most attendees had spoken, sparking a media controversy that ultimately contributed to the bill's failure. In Feature Articles by Porter AndersonMay 26, 2023Leave a Comment. Typically, this has taken the form of a proposed telephone or email hotline. 4 min Gift Article Share The advocacy group PEN America, along with Penguin Random House, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the school district and In, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, (1943), the Supreme Court struck down a state law requiring that public school students recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Before violators can be punished, they must be identified. CNN . Finally, the bills introduced this year have been much more punitive. Such statements create a broad chilling effect on educators pedagogical choices by telegraphing that a ban of any type may be enforced as expansively as a particular official sees fit.61In a similar vein, whereas the text of Nebraskas LB 1077 would have imposed restrictions only on mandatory training, its Republican sponsor explained that he intended training to include classroom instruction. The most striking development to date in 2022 has been the sheer volume of bills introduced. Advocates who believe that educational gag orders are narrowly focused instruments to fight indoctrination of students should recognize that these laws, in practice, create broad and unspecific new government restrictions on speech that are difficult to interpret and easy to overenforce. Rebecca Kelliher, Wyoming Senate Votes to Stop Funding University of Wyomings Gender Studies Program, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, March 1, 2022. South Carolinas H 4392, for example, would have forbidden educators from making use of any instructional material that could lead students to believe that slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.69South Carolina H 4392, https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/bills/4392.htm.. Such a measure would allow any ideological actor within the state to hold school districts hostage to their political views regarding what schools should and should not teach. . Missouris SB 694 would have required teachers to teach controversial topics from both sides and without showing preference or deference to one perspective.49Missouri SB 694, https://legiscan.com/MO/text/SB694/id/2453615/Missouri-2022-SB694-Introduced.pdf. Just a few years ago, Republican legislators were championing bills protecting free expression on college campuses; many are now focused on bills that censor the teaching of particular ideas. Of the bills that have become law thus far in 2022, 57 percent target higher education, compared with just 25 percent of the new laws last year. The most important example of this trend is Floridas HB 7. Legislation of this type is not new; in Tennessee, for example, such bills have been introduced multiple times since 2013, without success. For instance, Texass SB 3, which became law in 2021, states that whenever public K12 school teachers broach a current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs, they must strive to explore the topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.48Texas SB 3, https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/872/billtext/pdf/SB00003E.pdf#navpanes=0. Penguin Random House, PEN America File Lawsuit , which argues that the American justice system perpetuates a racial caste system. Now this campaign appears to have turned its attention to gender identity and sexual orientation as well. HB 7 also deals a significant blow to academic freedom. Gov. The second type of gag order bills would prohibit the promotion, endorsement, or inculcation of particular ideas or concepts. Our report on the inaugural Freedom To Write Index report in 2020 is here. Two in Oklahoma (SB 588 and SB 614) would have prohibited anti-American bias.74Oklahoma SB 588, https://legiscan.com/OK/text/SB588/id/2442064/Oklahoma-2022-SB588-Introduced.pdf; Oklahoma SB 614, https://legiscan.com/OK/text/SB614/id/2447707/Oklahoma-2022-SB614-Amended.pdf. Anika Exum, Why Williamson County Parents Are Suing School District, State Education Commissioner,. In our 2021 report, we stated that educational gag orders demonstrate a disregard for academic freedom, liberal education, and the values of free speech and open inquiry that are enshrined in the First Amendment and that anchor a democratic society. We also argued that they are likely to disproportionately affect the free speech rights of students, educators, and trainers who are women, people of color, and LGBTQ+.10PEN America, Educational Gag Orders: Legislative Restrictions on the Freedom to Read, Learn, and Teach, November 2021, https://pen.org/report/educational-gag-orders/.These trends continue in 2022. Similar tip lines have been proposed in Alaska, New Jersey, and Oklahoma.114Alaska HB 391, https://legiscan.com/AK/text/HB391/id/2525369/Alaska-2021-HB391-Introduced.pdf; New Jersey S 2685, https://legiscan.com/NJ/bill/S2685/2022; Oklahoma SB 614, https://legiscan.com/OK/text/SB614/id/2447707/Oklahoma-2022-SB614-Amended.pdf. Violators may be sued by the state attorney general under Floridas civil rights statute. Ukraine and the environment will top the agenda when Biden meets UK politicians and royalty, NATOs unity will be tested at summit in Vilnius, South Korean lawmakers berate IAEA chief over Japanese plans to release treated Fukushima wastewater, Y2K fashion has taken over. No public funds may be spent for any purpose that would violate this law. The new law prohibits public and private employers alike from subjecting any individual to training or instruction that promotes, espouses, or in any way advances certain ideas related to race, sex, color, or national origin. In a similar vein, whereas the text of Nebraskas LB 1077 would have imposed restrictions only on mandatory training, its Republican sponsor explained that he intended training to include classroom instruction. The law contains a likely unenforceable savings clause stating that it is not to be interpreted to infringe on an individuals academic freedom or First Amendment rights. There is no hope: simmering anger boils over in poverty-riven Every other gag order bill introduced in 2022 across the country has been written and sponsored exclusively by Republican legislators., In our 2021 report, we stated that educational gag orders demonstrate , a disregard for academic freedom, liberal education, and the values of free speech and open inquiry that are enshrined in the First Amendment and that anchor a democratic society. We also argued that they are likely to disproportionately affect the free speech rights of students, educators, and trainers who are women, people of color, and LGBTQ+., Type of punishment: private right of action, Cousins v. the School Board of Orange County, Targets: employers, public K12 schools, public colleges and universities, Type of prohibition: inclusion, promotion, compulsion, Type of punishment: monetary fine, loss of state financial support, This law includes three principal provisions. It is also likely that we will continue to see the adoption of district-level educational gag orders that are not enshrined in state legislation. Private rights of action have appeared in 37 educational gag order bills introduced in 2022. Except where otherwise noted, each bill referenced was considered in 2022. A pair of Missouri bills (HB 2189 and SB 645) state simply that K12 schools and colleges must offer courses that promote an overall positive . (Note: the word transgenderism is generally considered offensive by the transgender community. For example, one of the concepts that HB 7 prohibits faculty from espousing is that an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment to achieve diversity, equity, or inclusion. By any reasonable interpretation, HB 7 makes it illegal in the state of Florida for a law professor to articulate arguments in favor of affirmative action in the classroomeven though affirmative action exists and is currently held by the Supreme Court to be constitutional in some forms.27Regents of University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811.Recent guidance issued by the Florida Board of Governors and various state universities has not allayed these concerns.28Florida Board of Governors, 10.005 Prohibition of Discrimination in University Training or Instruction, https://www.flbog.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10.005-Prohibition-of-Discrimination-in-University-Training-or-Instruction.pdf; University of Florida, Understanding House Bill 7, https://media.coip.aa.ufl.edu/public_live/hb7/presentation_html5.html; Northwest Florida State College, HB7, https://cdn.muckrock.com/foia_files/2022/06/20/HB_7_Circle_5.3.22.pdf; University of North Florida, House Bill 7 (2022) Restrictions on Training/InstructionRequirements & Action Plan, https://www.muckrock.com/foi/jacksonville-326/hb7-impact-university-of-north-florida-129928/?#file-1023523. This executive order prohibits public K12 schools from directing or otherwise compelling students to adopt or affirm any ideas in violation of Title IV and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including a list of divisive concepts related to race, skin color, ethnicity, sex, or religion. For example, under the law, public universities in Tennessee may no longer discuss in a seminar or assign for an orientation any material that promotes division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people. This provision could be construed to mean that a historian of the US civil rights era or of the Holocaust cannot include in a course historical sources that might inspire resentment of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazis, each of whom might be considered a class of people, a term that is not defined.. The first prohibits all employers, including both public and nonpublic educational institutions, from requiring an individual to attend, as a condition of certification, licensing, credentialing, or passing an examination, any training or instruction where ideas from a list of divisive concepts about race, sex, color, or national origin are espoused, promoted, advanced, inculcated, or imposed.15Most of these bills include some or all of the divisive concepts listed in President Trumps September 2020 executive order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. The list is common across most bills, with some adaptation. The Dont Say Gay bills are only the most visible aspect of a broader campaign by legislators in 2022 against discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in educational settings. Attacks on LGBTQ+ identities have increasingly been at the forefront of educational censorship. While governments have greater leeway to determine what is taught in K12 schools, that does not mean that prohibitions on promotion are wise. A smaller percentage of bills have contained other forms of punishment, such as loss of institutional accreditation and criminal penalties. This persistent global assault on the freedom to write robs writers of their pens and keyboards, and audiences of their words and thoughts, and demands the urgent attention of the international community.. Published 10:34 AM PDT, July 7, 2023. The third most common form of punishment in 2022 has been professional discipline for the teacher or professional committing the violation. Sign up to receive email updates about PEN Americas vital work on these issues, including reports, legislative roundups, media coverage, and advocacy alerts. But in a democracy, the response to these disagreements can never be to ban discussion of ideas or facts simply because they are contested or cause discomfort. According to some observers, these compulsion bills are relatively harmless, simply reinforcing the notion that speech cannot be compelled in schools. No punishment is specified. Second, the law requires school districts to collect these challenges, regardless of their merit or outcome, and report them to the commissioner of education. Such bills would likely have ruled out a host of curricular content, including books with LGBTQ+ characters, history about LGBTQ+ rights movements, and more. Is that really all the First Amendment offers, wrote the judge hearing the case in his decision denying the governments motion to dismiss, that you can speak all you want as long as you toe the government line?31Judge Mark E. Walker, Order Granting in Part and Denying In Part Motion to Dismiss, Falls v. DeSantis, 4:22cv166 (2022), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.430092/gov.uscourts.flnd.430092.68.0.pdf. Reading Between the Lines: Race, Equity, and Book Publishing Many 2022 bills aimed at nonpublic educational institutions have embraced three alternative levers of enforcement: loss of state accreditation, loss of tax-exempt status, and loss of access to state funding. Together, those three countries account for more than half of the total number of writers held behind bars in 2021.As Publishing Perspectives readers know, one happier note has been the release of the International Publishers Associations (IPA) Prix Voltaire laureate Raif Badawi in Riyadh. Finally, a group of parents have sued the Forest Hills School District in Ohio to block a district-level educational gag order.121Madeline Mitchell, Forest Hills Parents, Students, Teachers Sue District over Resolution That Promotes Racism, Cincinnati Enquirer, June 29, 2022, https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2022/06/29/forest-hills-school-board-sued-over-culture-kindness-resolution/7769714001/.More lawsuits opposing gag orders are likely. A pair of Missouri bills (, ) state simply that K12 schools and colleges must offer courses that promote an overall positive . According to PEN America, in that period, there were 1,586 books banned. The likely consequence is that school districts will avoid stocking controversial material., In another example, after Utahs HB 374, Sensitive Materials in Schools, became law this year, the state attorney generals office issued a guidance directing school districts to immediately remove books from school libraries that are categorically defined as pornography under state statute.39Utah HB 374, https://legiscan.com/UT/drafts/HB0374/2022; Sean D. Reyes, Official MemorandumLaws Surrounding School Libraries, June 1, 2022, https://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-01-Official-Memo-Re-Laws-Surrounding-School-Libraries.pdf. . The bill goes on to state. And a pair of North Carolina bills, HB 755 and HB 1067, would have banned instruction on these topics until the fourth and seventh grades, respectively.83North Carolina HB 755, https://legiscan.com/NC/text/H755/id/2592056/North_Carolina-2021-H755-Amended.pdf; North Carolina HB 1067, https://legiscan.com/NC/text/H1067/id/2590617/North_Carolina-2021-H1067-Amended.pdf. Many such bills are close relatives of others that passed or nearly passed; others are messaging bills introduced in blue states where they were unlikely to advance. instruction, presentations, discussions, or counseling that affirms or promotes what the bill describes as discriminatory concepts.46South Carolina H 4605, https://legiscan.com/SC/text/H4605/id/2450490/South_Carolina-2021-H4605-Introduced.html. Since then, copycat bills have been filed in many other states. Perhaps most ambiguous are the prohibitions on compulsion. The alignment of these efforts has in some instances breathed new life into efforts to enact bills restricting classroom expression about LGBTQ+ identities.