The Miami AAUP Advocacy Chapter condemns HB 616 as a continuation of the ongoing assault on free speech and free ideas in education. HB 616 will prevent K-12 educators from building inclusive environments for their students, silencing voices that need to be heard. It combines Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill with elements of HB 327, which proposes to ban so-called “divisive concepts.”
HB 616 censors discussions around sexuality and identity in K-12 classes by granting any individual, no matter their connection to the school, the ability to accuse a school or educator of teaching “not age-appropriate” material to students.
At the same time, HB 616 bans any “concept that the state board of education defines as divisive or inherently racist.” Such vaguely defined rules, if broken, could lead to teacher firings and loss of school funding. Worse, they will have a chilling effect on classroom discussions.
As faculty, we believe that the classroom should be a place where everyone feels welcomed, but for many vulnerable and marginalized students, HB 616 will do the opposite. Our schools’ opportunities to address structural racism are made more difficult by these bills. We also know that HB 616 will hurt all Ohio students by preventing the critical and fully informed conversations that build better students and better humans.
We call on the Ohio Legislature to oppose HB 616 and similar legislation and urge Miami faculty, staff, and students to make their own voices heard by contacting their representatives.
Miami AAUP Advocacy Chapter Steering Committee
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