Georgia public school libraries could fall under further scrutiny with new proposed state legislation that would notify parents about what library materials are checked out by their children and even allow criminal charges against librarians.
Georgia state senators in the Senate Education and Youth Committee advanced Senate Bill 365 in a 5-4 vote on Tuesday, which allows parents to opt into email notifications on what library materials are in their child’s name. The bill will now head to the full senate for further consideration.
The bill’s supporters say that it guarantees that parents are more in the know about what children are learning from school. Opponents say that students should be allowed to explore their interests freely and that the bill could violate their First Amendment rights.
Another proposal, Senate Bill 154, would make school librarians subject to criminal penalties for “knowingly” giving out materials that would violate state obscenity laws.
Republican senator Greg Dolezal who supports the bill said, “The goal of this bill is to go upstream of the procurement process and to ensure that we are not allowing things in our libraries that cause anyone to ever have to face any sort of criminal prosecution.”
These bills follow a national push by Republicans in many states to eliminate what they see as inappropriate material from public schools and libraries.