NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Governor Bill Lee signed two controversial bills into law related to how educators can teach students.
One of them restricts how educators can give lessons on race, racism and sexism. It lists 14 topics educators cannot give lessons on, such as racial privilege or critiques of meritocracy. It also says educators can only teach about ethnic histories such as slavery or discrimination if discussions remain impartial.
"Our grandfathers' history, the history that I went through, was not fully describing how America became this great country and for folks to try to cut that off at the legs is just really unfortunate," said Representative Sam McKenzie (D - Knoxville).
The law will take effect on July 1 and apply to the 2021-2022 school year.
The other bill allows parents and guardians to opt their students out of curriculum related to sexual orientation. Opponents said that the law may allow students to opt-out of lessons including art, history and gender identity.
"From the LGBTQ perspective, censoring that in the classroom, not being able to talk about those things in curriculum, I think that was unnecessary," said Representative Eddie Mannis (R - Knoxville).
Mannis also spoke out against a bill that prohibits transgender students from playing on school teams that align with their gender identity.
The law took effect as soon as Governor Lee signed it earlier in May.