Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, (left) and Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, present Senate Bill 5 before the House Education Committee.
(LRC PUBLIC INFORMATION)
FRANKFORT — Parents may soon have a new way to challenge obscene materials in public schools under Senate Bill 5.
The House Education Committee approved the bill on Monday. The bill’s primary sponsor Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, said SB 5 provides a framework for parents to challenge material in public schools that may be obscene and inappropriate for children. Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, also joined Howell in testifying on the bill.
“The purpose of this bill is to address the issues that parents think may be obscene,” Howell said. Under SB 5, some of the material that is defined as “harmful to minors,” includes nudity and visual and written depictions of sexual acts.
Stivers is not listed as a co-sponsor of SB 5, but he said this is an important issue to him.
SB 5 would direct local boards of education to establish a complaint resolution policy for local schools to use to address complaints from parents about material, a program or event that is harmful to minors by July 1.
A complaint would have to be submitted to the school’s principal where they would have seven business days to investigate the complaint and 10 business days to inform the parent of their decision to keep the materials or remove or restrict them.
If a parent is not happy with the principal’s decision, they may appeal to the local board of education. The board then has 30 days to address the appeal.
“At that point, if the parent still isn’t pleased with the process and outcome, then they can request that their child be restricted from or that material be restricted from their child,” Howell said.
Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, asked Howell if there are any school districts that do not already have a similar process in place to address concerns about material.
Howell said most districts have a process in place, but, “some of them work well and some of them don’t.”
Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, spoke in favor of SB 5. He said he has found examples of obscene, sexual materials at Kentucky public schools.
“I think it’s vitally important that we be as bold as we possibly can on this issue,” Calloway said. He added later that he is concerned about books that depict sexual acts, not materials like books on the Civil War.
Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Nicholasville, also said he’s in favor of SB 5, but he has concerns about the 10 day turn around for principals.
“I am supportive of this bill because I do believe that we need to be making sure that the materials in our schools are developmentally appropriate,” he said.
Howell said the bill does allow an extension to the deadline if all parties are agreeable.
“I think that the 10 day window is set in there to make sure that the parents understand that their concerns are being taken seriously and properly,” he added.
Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, also shared she has concerns about the impact the legislation might have on the parent-teacher relationship.
Howell said there is nothing in SB 5 that would prevent a parent from talking to the teacher about the material first to see if they can come up with a solution before filing an official complaint.
The House Education Committee approved SB 5 by a 16-4 vote.
In explaining his “no” vote on SB 5, Rep. George Brown Jr., D-Lexington, said the word “censorship” comes to his attention.
In explaining her “yes” vote, Rep. Emily Callaway, R-Louisville, said she hopes it “deters some of this material from ever making it into the school system.”
SB 5 will now go before the full House for consideration.
