Aiken County legislators take step to pass SC ban on critical race theory

Apr. 7—The South Carolina House of Representatives took their first vote Wednesday on the bill that would ban critical race theory from the state's public schools.

S.C. Reps. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, Melissa Oremus, R-Graniteville, and Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, were among the 72 members to vote in favor of invoking cloture on the bill.

Cloture is a procedure used to stop debate on a particular piece of legislation, preventing a filibuster or extended debate on the legislation.

S.C. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, was among the 41 members to vote against the motion to invoke cloture.

S.C. Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta, did not vote on the motion to invoke cloture but previously said he supports the bill.

The bill has three major components: legislative intent, instruction, and a process for complaints and appeals.

The legislative intent component calls for a fair and well-written version of history to be presented to the state's students. Also included is an offer for parents to sign a pledge of expectations.

It is not clear what the pledge of expectations would be for.

The instruction component calls for making sure that one group isn't held as superior to another group and prevents schools and districts from requiring sexual or gender diversity training unless the training is part of a corrective action plan. It also asks the state department of education to draft model lesson plans for use by schools and districts.

The complaint process requires districts report complaints to the General Assembly and offers parents the ability to appeal decisions to the state board of education. If the district is given a corrective action plan, the General Assembly can withhold funds until the plan is implemented.

The bill was approved by the whole Education and Public Works Committee last week after the committee held multiple meetings to receive public comment on five bills related to critical race theory. The committee received over 18 hours of public comment, including comments from South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, and created the bill from parts of the five bills it heard public comment on.

As cloture has been invoked, the bill remains up for second reading at a future House meeting without further debate.

The House will not meet next week due to the Easter holiday. Their next meeting will be at noon on Tuesday, April 19.