At the beginning of this year, I stood alongside my colleagues in the House Republican Caucus as we laid out the goals for this year’s session. We outlined 5 pillars for a “Foundation for South Carolina’s Success” which included economic prosperity, education reform, limited government, personal freedom, and law and order. As we end week 5 of session I am proud to announce that we are making tremendous progress working through this ambitious list! This week we passed a bill that bans political bias and indoctrination in our classrooms.

The future of South Carolina is dependent on the next generation, which is why I supported the Transparency and Integrity in Education Act. This bill will make sure our students learn a broad scope of history and will not be indoctrinated through the lens of liberal leaning teachings. I am confident that our colleagues in the Senate along with Gov. McMaster are all committed to making sure our students receive a high-quality education that is not clouded by bias, and that parents are assured the utmost input and transparency. For the record, there is a lot of tremendous hyperbole and inaccuracy both on social media and in emails sent to me from all over the state. This bill is NOT AT ALL about hiding the ugly truths of our nation's past, nor about ignoring the history of any ethnic group, race or gender. Quite the opposite, it bans any political bias that would distort the truth about our history. For those who don't believe we have bias and indoctrination in our schools today, please consider taking the time to speak to other parents of students. Hundreds of hours of testimony were presented last year as part of the research and due diligence for this bill. Our Education and Public Works Chair as well as the sponsor of this bill are both long-time former teachers. It was their hard work last year, along with the proactive schedule put forth by this year's leadership that brought us to the point where we could pass this bill so early in the session. Here is the link to H. 3728.