"Propaganda has no place in our classrooms," said Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa, who pushed for an amended education bill Wednesday that wouldย ย punish teachers who don't present both sides of "controversial" science or events.

 Arizona Daily Star, File

PHOENIX โ€” Republican lawmakers voted Wednesday to punish teachers who donโ€™t present both sides of controversial science or events. Some lawmakers say the effort could force teachers to seek out and present contrary views on everything from climate change, slavery, the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the Holocaust โ€” and even whether Joe Biden really won the election.

The measure approved along party lines requires that any โ€œcontroversial issuesโ€ discussed in the classroom must be done โ€œfrom diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.โ€

โ€œPropaganda has no place in our classrooms,โ€ said Rep. Michelle Udall, R-Mesa. She said there have been complaints by parents that their children are being taught things that some people do not believe to be true.

Much of what is in her amendment to SB 1532 is aimed at precluding instruction that one race, ethnic group or sex is โ€œinherently morally or intellectually superior to another.โ€ Udallโ€™s measure also would bar teaching that any individual bears responsibility for actions committed by others of the same race, ethic group or sex.

โ€œIt simply prevents teaching our students that their race determines their character, treatment or worth,โ€ she said. โ€œBiased, unbalanced teaching hurts children.โ€

But Rep. Randall Friese, D-Tucson, said the measure is based on a false premise.

โ€œIt is not propaganda that our country enslaved people for 400 years,โ€ he said. โ€œIt is not propaganda that native tribes had their land taken by our forefathers.โ€

Udall insisted that nothing stops that from being taught.

โ€œWe all acknowledge that these things happened,โ€ she said.

But Udallโ€™s legislation contains no definition of what is โ€œcontroversialโ€ and, under her proposal, could not be presented as fact but instead would require a teacher to provide an alternate view or face discipline. Friese suggested that might only be defined in retrospective after a parent objects to something that already was taught.

And that lack of definition alarmed some legislators who pointed out that any teacher who violates the law is subject to not just a $5,000 fine but would be forced to reimburse the school for any โ€œmisused monies.โ€

Udall brushed aside some of the examples of what might land a teacher in trouble.

For example, Udall said, a teacher would not have to present alternate theories about whether the earth is round.

She said an โ€œaccurate portrayal of historical eventsโ€ would be permitted. And she said that โ€œlargely discreditedโ€ theories do not need to be presented as fact.

But then legislators started asking about specific examples.

Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, said there are those who believe there were positive aspects of slavery and that some slaves were treated better than others.

โ€œSuppose that a teacher were to teach, and believed was an accurate portrayal, that all slavery was bad, that all masters were bad?โ€ she asked.

โ€œIf the sources are well understood and if itโ€™s well-cited, that would be considered an accurate portrayal,โ€ Udall said. โ€œIf itโ€™s not something that has been discredited, it would be considered an accurate portrayal.โ€

But Rep. Diego Rodriguez, D-Phoenix, said Udallโ€™s measure makes issues where there should be none.

โ€œIt is not a controversial statement to say slavery was the cause of the Civil War and not an issue of statesโ€™ rights,โ€ he said. Ditto, Rodriguez said, would be a statement in a current events class saying that Joe Biden was elected in a fair and free election.

โ€œAnd now weโ€™re going to have to โ€˜both-sidesโ€™ this?โ€ he asked.

And what of climate change, Salman said, where there is a small group of scientists who contend either it is not occurring or that humans play no role. Does that, too, she asked, require equal time?

โ€œIf theyโ€™re working on controversial topics they should teach them from diverse and contending perspectives without giving preference to either side and let students draw their own conclusion,โ€ Udall responded.

Rep. Kelli Butler, D-Paradise Valley, asked about the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

โ€œThere are ample conspiracy theories as to whether that happened, how it happened,โ€ she said. Butler wanted to know if a teacher who believes the attacks occurred and who caused them would then have to bring in someone with an alternate viewpoint.

โ€œBecause there are a lot them,โ€ she said.

โ€œYou can just Google it,โ€ Butler continued. โ€œThere are all kinds of videos. Itโ€™s a pretty established conspiracy theory.โ€

Udall said she wasnโ€™t concerned.

โ€œLargely discredited arguments donโ€™t need to be presented as fact,โ€ she said.

But Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said even local issues can fall into the same category.

She told colleagues about Felix Longoria who died during World War II, came home in a flag-draped coffin but was denied a wake at a Texas funeral home โ€œbecause white people would be upset.โ€

โ€œOur teachers should be allowed to speak about Felix Longoria,โ€ Fernandez said. โ€œBut they canโ€™t teach it unless they can talk about why his family was denied a place to honor their father, their son, a husband, a friend and a neighbor.โ€

Rep. Frank Carroll, R-Sun City West, said he sees the legislation as simply an extension of existing law which declares that parents have a right to direct the education of their minor child โ€œwithout obstruction or interference from this state.โ€

โ€œSo this is for the parents and this is for the children to be able to stand up against the bad actors,โ€ he said, meaning teachers who donโ€™t honor that law.

And Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, compared all this to the move by some to remove monuments because of what they represent.

โ€œThatโ€™s called rewriting history,โ€ he said. โ€œWhether you like that monument or not, that monument exists as a marker in time to provoke thought which, of course, provokes critical thinking.โ€

Even the method that Udall used to bring the issue to the full House for a vote was itself controversial.

Rather than going through the full process, which would have guaranteed at least one public hearing, she attached it to a semi-related measure which would make it illegal for teachers to use school resources to โ€œorganize, plan or execute any activity that impedes or prevents a public school from operating for any period of time.โ€

That followed a decision by some teachers in the Peoria Unified School District to stage a sick-out in January after its school board decided to reopen schools for in-person learning despite the fact that the โ€œmetricsโ€ of the level of infection showed it was not yet safe to do that.

Heather Rooks, a parent in the district, testified at a hearing that she had evidence that teachers were sending emails from school servers during school hours to organize the event.

The amended version of SB 1532 now returns the bill to the Senate โ€” which approved it without the additional language.

And the Senate, like the House, can approve the amended bill without a public hearing.

A crowd of a couple hundred anti-mask protestors, most refusing to wear masks re district policy, disrupt a Vail School District Board of Governors meeting on April 28, 2021. The meeting was canceled before it officially began. Members of the crowd "elected" their own board and held votes to rescind district policies in the wake of the shut down.

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