A bill that would have restricted the way Indiana teachers talk about race in classrooms and given more power over curriculum to parents died in the state Senate on Feb. 28.
The controversial bill was part of a backlash from Republicans to debates about critical race theory. The bill included a list of “divisive concepts” related to race and sex that would have been banned in classrooms.
Feb. 28 was the final day for the full Senate to consider amendments to House bills. Republicans spent hours in closed-door discussions and pushed House Bill 1134 to the end of the agenda, but the bill wasn’t called to the floor.
Even if the bill did advance, the Senate was dealing with a watered-down version of the original. The most significant changes were to the list of banned concepts, which shrank from eight to three.
Senate Republicans seemed split on their support of the bill, and it wasn’t clear if they had enough votes to pass it.
Though the bill is dead, some of its language could still end up in other legislation. The legislative session is scheduled to end March 14.
Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis, tweeted after the bill died: “Thank you to all of the educators, students, parents and Hoosiers who shared their concerns about this legislation throughout the process. We must stay vigilant moving forward to ensure this bill doesn’t come back.”
Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, thanked teachers and others who spoke out against the bill.
“Thank you so much for making your voice heard and fighting for our future generations,” he tweeted.
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Indiana State Teachers Association President Keith Gambill said in a statement the union will “stay vigilant” to see if parts of the bill show up in other legislation during conference committee, the final phase of the lawmaking process when legislators from both chambers come together to work out differences between bills.
Gambill said he hopes lawmakers will “take this opportunity to step back and collaborate with educators, parents, and others to create legislation that everyone can support for the benefit of all of our students.”
The bill was a culmination of complaints from mostly white, suburban parents about critical race theory in schools. Most often they were using critical race theory — an advanced academic framework used in law schools — to refer to anything having to do with discussions about diversity, racism or social emotional learning.
Some teachers said the bill would have left them unclear on what topics are allowed to be discussed in classrooms, making their jobs even more difficult, and they warned such a law would have made the state’s teacher shortage even worse.
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853 or email at tylerf@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
