Bill banning 'divisive concepts' on race advances in Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — Conservative efforts to regulate what Georgia schools can teach about race are advancing in the General Assembly after the public got its first chance to comment on the proposed ban on teaching “divisive concepts.”

A House Education subcommittee sent a revised version of House Bill 1084 ahead to the full committee on a split voice vote, where it awaits further action. The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Will Wade of Dawsonville, told members the measure is needed to stop people from fomenting racial division.

“This bill does not limit an educator," Wade told the committee. "What it does is empower parents to ensure that kids and children in our schools of all races are not pitted against each other.”

But many opponents say the measure would frighten teachers away from an honest classroom discussion of race in history and the present day.

“No matter what authors have built into these bills intend for them to do, their obvious outcome is going to be to further whitewash what is taught to our Georgia children about race and minimize the painful and violent oppression that Black Georgians and indigenous peoples have experienced at the hands of their white neighbors,” said Stephanie Jackson Ali, policy director for the New Georgia Project.

The measure was just one of multiple bills considered Wednesday in a broad conservative attack on how schools are run and who should be in charge. Committees were also taking up measures to limit obscene materials, bar transgender girls from playing school sports, and give parents new rights to demand to see teaching materials. Gov. Brian Kemp, after attacks from Republican gubernatorial primary rival David Perdue, announced he was working on legislation that would bar schools from mandating masks in classrooms.

Wade's...