Education bills focus on what should be taught in classrooms and kept out of school libraries

A group of state Senate members looked up at a television screen on Tuesday as a three-minute sepia-toned video followed the growth of a single cell to a baby with fingers and toes in the womb.

The “Meet Baby Olivia” video, sponsored by anti-abortion activist group LiveAction, would be required viewing in eighth and 10th grade classrooms in state public schools under Senate Bill 468, which is moving through the Senate. 

“I’m very passionate about life and protecting the unborn, [this] was something I thought, ‘I don’t want to enforce a view on anyone, but I want our kids to be informed and educated to make a decision,’” said Sen. Amy Grady, a public school teacher who chairs the Senate Education Committee. 

Lawmakers are looking at education issues amid critical needs in West Virginia public schools: a glaring teacher shortage, low math and reading scores, a shortage of mental health resources and student behavior challenges. 

In week three of the legislative session, several education bills in the Republican-controlled Legislature have focused on curriculum mandates or changes tied to conservative views.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, raised concerns to fellow lawmakers about a political nonprofit showing up in a bill about classroom instruction. Kentucky has a similar bill, the “Baby Olivia Act,” that could require the same video to be shown in its classrooms.

Grady and fellow bill sponsor Sen. Patricia Rucker, who both voted in favor of the state’s sweeping abortion ban, noted that the legislation would limit the anti-abortion group’s involvement in curriculum to only providing the free video depicting a baby’s growth in the womb.  

“This isn’t political,” said Rucker, R-Jeffreson. “There isn’t any mention of politics or any mention of abortion. It’s just about human development, which we are already teaching in our schools.” 

Matthew Stead, a high school social studies teacher in Cabell County, said lawmakers are blurring the line between politics and education.

“I’m a Christian and largely have similar moral beliefs as most of the Senate Education Committee, but I would also like to keep the culture wars out of the classroom and stick to the facts,” he said.

A measure also sponsored by Grady, Senate Bill 280, would permit — not require — teachers to discuss scientific theories, including intelligent design, with students. The Senate signed off on that bill on Tuesday. 

“We’re not supposed to teach kids what to think, but how to think. I think that’s so important,” said Grady, R-Mason.

Fred Albert, president of American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, said any legislation requiring certain teaching methods “ties the hands” of teachers and stifles classroom creativity. 

“It’s another thing that they feel they’re being told what to teach, how to teach and how to teach it,” he said. 

Grady said her bills are largely crafted based on the constituent desires and fellow Senators’ priorities. 

She dismissed the idea that she was tying teachers’ hands, citing that state law already dictates what educators can teach. 

Stead, a teacher with more than 20 years experience, emphasized that the “Meet Baby Olivia” legislation comes with a mandate. 

“The option is taken away from the teacher,” he said. 

He said recent education legislation is “quite the opposite of what true conservatism is all about.”

“That’s quite a change from local control and ‘letting teachers teach,’” he said. 

Teachers unions oppose obscene materials bill 

Teachers’ unions have spoken out against a bill in the House, sponsored by Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, that would open up school and public libraries to felony charges for displaying or dissemination of obscene material. The legislation doesn’t define what obscene could mean.

During a public hearing about the bill on Wednesday, supporters argued that school libraries shouldn’t include books that depict immoral content, including sexual acts. 

Albert told lawmakers that he hadn’t heard about the issue from teachers. He emphasized that it would open schools up to costly lawsuits.

West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee also spoke against the bill, saying that there were 1,705 teaching positions without a certified teacher in public school classrooms this year.

“If this bill passes and you’re subject to prosecution, this number is just going to increase tenfold,” he said. “What are we doing?”

Del. Mike Pushkin, a Democrat who serves on the House Committee on Education, said that the bill could possibly ban the “The Diary of Anne Frank” due to its broadly-written content. He pointed out that, meanwhile, Senate Republicans are advancing a bill, SB 448, that would require public schools to give age-appropriate instruction on the Holocaust.

“There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on in this building right now,” said Pushkin, D-Kanawha. “[Republicans] want to insert themselves in every aspect of our lives, and that’s not what the Republican party used to stand for.”