Ohio House Bill 616 on banning ‘divisive concepts’ garners mixed support as students return to school

As the Ohio legislature prepares to reconvene after the November elections, Ohio House Bill 616 will likely be considered during the lame duck session, a time when legislation could be quickly pushed through before new elected officials are sworn in. This bill, which seeks to prohibit the teaching of “divisive or inherently racist concepts” within the public school system, quickly made headlines after it was introduced in April.

Similar censorship bills, HB 327 and HB 322, were introduced last year in the Ohio legislature which raised concerns among educators about what can and cannot be taught in the classroom. Supporters of HB 616 are concerned about what children are learning in schools and want to ensure educators are teaching age-appropriate topics. The bill’s critics fear it would censor teachers and their curriculums surrounding certain topics such as race, gender and diversity.

Introduced by state representatives Mike Loychik (R-Bazetta) and Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland), the bill does not include a clear definition for “divisive or inherently racist concepts,” but it does list the following under that category: critical race theory; intersectional theory; “The 1619 Project”; diversity, equity and inclusion learning outcomes; and inherited racial guilt.

It also includes a measure that would allow the state board of education to prohibit the teaching of any concept it defines as “divisive or inherently racist.” Reminiscent of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill which was signed into law in March, HB 616 would also ban any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten to third grade, and would only allow “age-appropriate” instruction for students in fourth to twelfth grade. The bill does not offer further explanation for the term “age-appropriate.”

If a teacher violates this proposed bill, their teaching license could be admonished, suspended or revoked. The department of education could also withhold funding from a district’s school if the department finds that it has violated the bill.

Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association (OEA), opposes the bill. OEA is a teacher’s union that represents more than 120,000 educators across Ohio and advocates for improving public education. As a social studies teacher for 30 years, DiMauro said he wants students to have a well-rounded education where they are taught to think critically and consider multiple perspectives. DiMauro said this bill would deprive students of that opportunity and fail to academically challenge them.

“They’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Parents trust teachers, legislators should trust teachers too,” DiMauro said.

The National Education Association, the parent organization to OEA, recently surveyed 1,000 people likely to vote this November and found that 84% trust teachers to choose what is taught in schools. The survey also found that regardless of political affiliation, the majority of voters support educators in public schools.

The introduction of HB 616 also comes at a time when schools across the country are experiencing educator shortages, and DiMauro said that even though this bill has not been passed, some educators are already fearful of losing their licenses or being sued.

“Part of getting a full, complete, honest education is understanding that there have been a lot of great things about our history, and there have been a lot of not so great things about our history,” DiMauro said. “We should be learning from the things that aren’t so great in order to make improvements to do better. That’s how progress has been made.”

Other organizations such as Honesty for Ohio Education have also publicly expressed opposition to the bill. Founded by Cynthia Peeples last year, Honesty for Ohio Education is a nonprofit organization that advocates for honest and diverse perspectives within education.

“[HB 616] is a misinformation campaign that’s hurting the state of Ohio,” Peeples said. “[…] It’s distracting us from what we really need to be focusing on. We need to be normalizing conversations about how our legacies and our past continually impact how we live today, how there are systemic issues, there are institutional issues. Until we address those honestly and thoughtfully, we can’t move past them.”

Honesty for Ohio Education also released a statement opposing HB 327 and HB 322, both of which aim to prohibit teaching of certain concepts regarding race, sex, gender and more.

HB 616 has found some support among Ohioans such as Sarah Simon, the Stark chapter chair of Moms for Liberty, which is a national nonprofit organization advocating for parental rights with multiple local chapters in Ohio. With two high school students in the public school system, Simon pays attention to their curriculums and wants to see more transparency in what goes on in the classroom.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Simon said. “Parents don’t want their children learning about being oppressors versus oppressed and grouped into these buckets.”

Simon said schools should focus on bringing students back to pre-pandemic report card levels in math rather than focusing on social and emotional learning, or SEL. According to the Ohio Department of Education, social and emotional learning standards include: “self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.”

“Social-emotional learning is about tapping into the human sitting in the seat,” Peeples said. “It’s about how our students learn. It’s about how our students build relationships with their educators and with their peers so that they can thrive in the classroom beyond just what they’re reading in text.”

The Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio conducted a survey with Baldwin Wallace University Community Research Institute and found that 93% of Ohio parents surveyed trust their children’s teachers to teach age-appropriate content. Out of the almost 1,400 parents surveyed, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio also found that 68% supported teaching their children SEL skills.

HB 616 was sent to the State and Local Government Committee within the Ohio House of Representatives in May, but currently has not moved forward.

“I want for my students the same thing that every parent wants for their children, and when we’re all on the same team together, kids are the winners,” DiMauro said. “We shouldn’t be putting our students in the middle of these fights that are not about them but about somebody else’s political ambition.”