Kentucky Senate Bill 5, which would mandate school districts have a process for parents to propose banning certain books and class materials, passed on Feb. 23 and is headed to the House.

 Sen. Jason Howell (R-Calloway) filed the bill, which he said would allow parents “a voice when those items [books or materials] are in conflict with their families’ values and beliefs.”

The bill targets materials “harmful to minors,” particularly those with sexual content. It covers “unclothed human male or female genitals,” “visual depictions of sexual acts” and “explicit written descriptions of sexual acts” as content parents may rightfully deem obscene. 

It also permits banning materials that “appeal to the prurient interest in sex” or are “patently offensive to prevailing standards regarding what is suitable for minors.”

Some legislators, like Sen. Lindsey Tichenor (R-Jefferson), supported the measure for “protect[ing] children.”

“When we are desensitizing children to sexual things and making this content available in schools, you’re opening the door to sexual abuse,” Tichenor said. “The parent might not feel the child is ready to see some of these things in a public school.”

Others, including Sen. Reggie Thomas (D-Fayette), criticized the bill on the ground of censorship.

“Make no mistake about Bill 5,” Thomas said. “We are continuing to go down the path now of banning books that we as a legislature say we don’t like.” 

Paul Foote, associate professor of legal studies, said he believes the current process in schools is sufficient.

“Currently, if there’s a book or a film that may be of some violent or sexual nature or something, a parent can sign a form and then their child will sit outside the classroom,” Foote said. “There’s already a process in place…so to outwardly ban books and so on, I don’t think that’s really helpful to the educational process.”

However, Foote said the bill would not infringe on students’ constitutional rights.

“At the same time, these aren’t adults,” Foote said. “They’re children under parents’ authority, so I guess what they’re doing is deferring to the parents rather than surveying the child of their opinions. Their opinions are not equal to the parent yet because they’re under 18.”

Because teachers undergo vocational training, Foote said they should be able to teach what they deem appropriate for the curriculum.

“They should be able to have some free will choosing the books and documents or whatever, magazines that they want young people to read,” Foote said. “I think we have to trust that they’re professionals and that they’re not ideological…they’re really just trying to give them a balanced education.”

Foote said the bill likely stems from an effort to please Republican constituents concerned with school curricula.

“I think some of this is coming out of Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, how he’s really attacking or looking at the schools with a microscope,” Foote said. “I think that’s having an effect nationwide, and I think it’s affecting other red states…It might just continue down this line with other bills that are similar in Kentucky.”

The bill would only regulate K-12 schools. David Whaley, dean of the College of Education and Human Services, said the bill would indirectly affect students in the education field.

“What we’ll have to do is to make sure that…our students preparing to be teachers and administrator candidates all know about the specific rules that this bill operates under,” Whaley said.

Though he said he cannot speak to the future, Whaley acknowledged the possibility of a similar bill applying to higher education in Kentucky.

“There has been an effort made by the state administration in Florida to influence the curriculum that’s being taught, especially around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education,” Whaley said. “We would want to work carefully in partnership with any legislator that was interested in doing that to try to make sure that the legislator understands…how we are preparing our graduates to become effective teachers and administrators.”

Should the bill become law, Whaley said it will provide an opportunity for greater participation from parents in the K-12 school curriculum.

“In an ideal situation, we want parents to be good partners with our schools,” Whaley said. “We know that they [students] have a whole other life away from school, and what we want to do in our school settings is to establish partnerships with the parents or the guardians so we can deliver the best education during that fraction of time that we have the students on a daily basis.”