RALEIGH — A bill filed in the North Carolina House seeks to extend parental rights over K-12 public school curriculum and challenges to books or materials.
House Bill 595 was filed last week by Reps. John Torbett (R-Gaston) and Hugh Blackwell (R-Burke). Most provisions in the bill, if enacted, would take effect for the 2025-26 school year.
In a statement to North State Journal, Torbett said the bill “aims to better empower parents by implementing several changes to the state’s educational framework concerning age-appropriate health education, instructional materials, and library resources.”
The legislation would prohibit instruction on gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality in K-6 grades and require parental consent on an annual basis for such topics in grades 7-12.
The bill also would establish specific requirements for human growth and development education in grades 4-5, mandating “age-appropriate” content taught in single-sex groups with parental consent.
Students can be given information on contraception with written parental consent.
Language in the bill replaces “local board of education” with “governing body.” The change is significant because it would broaden the scope to book review panels or committees established by a school board.
Many districts utilize an “opt-out” method for such courses or programs, but under the bill, students would not be able to participate without prior written consent from a parent or legal guardian.
The bill would also create a structured process for selecting library books, requiring public school units to assign age-appropriate content designations (elementary, middle school, high school) and maintain a publicly accessible repository of instructional materials for parental review.
Per the bill, governing bodies would have to establish criteria for selecting library books and must select books based on superintendent recommendations. The superintendent must provide a list of recommended books to the governing body for at least 30 days of review. Books with 10 or more letters of objection cannot be selected without governing body approval at a public meeting.
Additionally, procedures for community input on materials would be required, and schools must review all books at book fairs hosted by a school.
The legislation would also modify public library policies by creating a restricted access area for material deemed “harmful to minors” and require parental consent for access to those materials as well as consent for library cards issued to minors. Parents are also granted access to their child’s library records.
The bill also clarifies and expands legal definitions regarding disseminating “materials harmful to minors.” Current law makes it an offense to “sell, furnish, present, or distribute” such material to minors. Language added would make it an offense to “allow a minor to review or peruse material that is harmful to minors.”
Since the pandemic, protests have occurred in school districts across the state over books with graphic sexual depictions and that use pervasive language.
In 2021, parents tried unsuccessfully to get the attention of the Wake County sheriff by filing criminal complaints over materials and books found in Wake County Public School classrooms and libraries they deemed as obscene.
Led by the NC Values Coalition in spring 2024, parents, advocacy groups, school board members and various lawmakers held a rally calling for a change in obscenity laws and those governing book selection in K-12 schools.
The bill would seemingly address the roadblocks encountered by parents in the removal of certain books by modifying to “affirmative defense” section pertaining to immunity granted to various institutions.
Institutions like schools, churches, museums, public libraries, governmental agencies, medical clinics and hospitals can display such materials for “legitimate functions” without repercussions. The amendment maintains this defense but strengthens the scrutiny of what constitutes a “legitimate function” of these institutions.
Legal consequences are included in the bill, making it a Class 1 misdemeanor for allowing children to access material deemed harmful to minors.
Another bill filed in the House by Rep. Neal Jackson (R-Randolph complements Torbett’s bill.
Jackson’s bill contains similar provisions that bar the adoption of books considered harmful to minors as contained in Torbett’s bill but would require the State Board of Education to maintain a database of rejected books and materials housed under the Department of Public Instruction for parents and the public to access.
Under Jackson’s bill, penalties for violating the 2023 Parents’ Bill of Rights include allowing parents to seek injunctive and declaratory legal relief. Parents can also seek up to $5,000 in damages per violation and recoup legal costs and attorney fees.
“Pornographic content is never appropriate in an educational setting. Exposure to sexually explicit material is devastating and traumatic for children, and it can have lasting psychological effects,” Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the NC Values Coalition, said of Jackson’s bill. “This bill would put in place common-sense criteria to protect our children and ensure that the materials we provide them are appropriate for their developmental stage.”
