Controversial Ohio Teaching Bills Spark Lakewood Council Action

LAKEWOOD, OH — Lakewood City Council will consider a resolution condemning a pair of Ohio House bills that would legislate the teaching of race and sex in both schools and public organizations.

Resolution 2022-08 will be discussed during Monday's regular City Council meeting, according to the current agenda. The resolution was written by Councilpersons Daniel O'Malley and Sarah Kepple.

The resolution is a response to two controversial pieces of legislation introduced in the Ohio House: House Bill 322 and House Bill 327, both of which would impact a teacher's ability to discuss certain topics in classrooms. House Bill 327 would also limit what public organizations, like city governments or state colleges, can teach.

"These bills are very dangerous to our community," Kepple told Patch. She argued both pieces of legislation could hurt Lakewood Schools and Lakewood groups like the Anti-Racism Task Force.

Ohio House Bill 322

Ohio House Bill 322 would require teachers to discuss slavery and systemic oppression as "deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality." The bill would also restrict a teacher's ability to discuss current events or "widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs."

Teachers would be required to teach "both sides" of "controversial" topics, according to Gary Daniels, the ACLU of Ohio's chief lobbyist, but the legislation fails to explicitly outline which topics are "controversial" by definition.

"But those very few who still decide to navigate these choppy waters will now have to present 'both/all sides' to subjects such as the Jewish Holocaust and Jim Crow laws. All because most House Republicans do not agree students should be taught some things are so objectively horrible and wrong a public school should communicate an unequivocal position," Daniels wrote in a column.

The proposed resolution in Lakewood echoes many of the ACLU's concerns.

This is "effectively revising history and whitewashing the education of Ohio’s students on systemic racism and oppression of vulnerable populations that has occurred over the course of American history," according to the proposed resolution condemning the bill.

Several residents have voiced concerns about House Bill 322 hurting education in the Lakewood Schools, Kepple said, and limiting what Advanced Placement students can be taught or achieve in their courses.

Ohio House Bill 327

Ohio House Bill 327 similarly limits local governments, state agencies, universities, colleges, and K-12 schools from teaching "divisive concepts." If a district or agency does pursue an education plan considered "divisive" under the law, the Ohio Department of Education could withhold funding from the district or school until the lessons changed.

The Lakewood resolution described HB 327 as "extreme government overreach" that shows "disregard for home rule in its attempt to police the content of professional development and training offered by Ohio’s local governments to its employees and contractors."

For example, Kepple said, HB 327 could hinder the work of Lakewood's Anti-Racism Task Force and the city's ADA Transition Plan Task Force.

"They also talk about educating folks on biases against people with disabilities or how to better implement strategies to serve people with different needs or backgrounds," she noted of the latter Task Force.

The resolution condemns both HB 322 and HB 327 as "attacks on free speech and education" in Ohio.