Dive Brief:
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The Georgia Association of Educators is suing the Cobb County School District over classroom censorship after a veteran teacher was allegedly fired for reading what the union called "an age-appropriate picture book about self-acceptance and navigating gender stereotypes" to her class.
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The lawsuit was also filed on behalf of a current teacher — a veteran of two decades in the district — and other teachers, who consider the policies to pose a threat to tenure protections. These teachers include those that have earned protections under the Georgia Fair Dismissal Act, which prevents a school district from dismissing tenured teachers without good reason, according to the lawsuit.
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The teachers union, which represents over 1,600 educators, is asking that the district’s censorship policies, put in place after the passage of at least two restrictive state laws, be reversed because they "pose a continuing threat to other teachers in the school district."
Dive Insight:
The lawsuit is the first of its kind in the state, but echoes other lawsuits filed nationwide.
Like lawsuits challenging similar curriculum restrictions in other states, the Georgia lawsuit claims the district’s policies are vague and harm students' ability to learn in safe environments.
The district's "vague censorship policies enable arbitrary, discriminatory, and retaliatory enforcement against educators, like Plaintiffs, who support LGBTQ students," the plaintiffs claim in the suit filed Feb. 13. Teacher Katherine Rinderle "has been terminated simply for reading an award-winning children’s book, written from the perspective of a student who does not conform to gender stereotypes, to her fifth-grade students."
The lawsuit claims violations of rights under Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education programs, and the First Amendment, which has been a more popular route for curriculum restriction lawsuits.
Other states that have similar lawsuits pending — some under the First or 14th Amendments rather than TItle IX — include Tennessee, Florida and Iowa. According to PEN America, which tracks classroom censorship policies, 22 states had enacted a total of 40 policies as of November 2023.
At the forefront of challenges to these spreading state policies are teachers unions, which claim the policies infringe on educators’ ability to teach. Many teachers say they are fearful and feel as though supporting students or creating inclusive environments could subject them to fines or steeper penalties, like losing their teaching licenses.
The Georgia lawsuit and comes at a time when states are facing teacher shortages.
Bills that prohibit classroom discussion of race and LGBTQ+ issues are not only impacting veteran teachers, but could also harm the teacher pipeline. According to research published in 2022 from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, laws like the one in Georgia and other states could steer prospective teachers away from the profession.
"Now, in the wake of racial reckoning, the growing push for LGBTQ+ rights, and other liberatory reform efforts, educators must contend with the demands of legislation that will further inhibit their ability to equitably serve all student needs," the report said. "The issues that have plagued educator preparation are now compounded in the current political context."
The report also predicted that shortages will lead to fewer diverse students choosing to enter the teaching profession.
Last week, a report from RAND suggested that teachers in states even outside of those with laws prohibiting certain curriculum topics are being affected by the current political climate. It found that not only are nearly two-thirds of public school teachers limiting instruction on political and social issues, but over half in places without such restrictions are also deciding to curb their instruction.
Teachers in places with and without restrictions said they felt uncertain whether their school or district leaders would back them up in cases where their curriculum decisions upset parents.
