As U.S. public education is threatened by efforts at multiple levels of government to censor instruction or rewrite history, legislators in states like Virginia are asking themselves what they can do to ensure students are taught accurate information. In grappling with this question, Virginia lawmakers landed on an important truth this legislative session: More censorship is never the answer.
Earlier this year, Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer of Fairfax, Virginia, introduced a bill, HB 333, designed to address rising disinformation about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The bill would have restricted how educators could teach about it by using vague language to prohibit discussion of certain viewpoints. At the close of the legislative session, however, Virginia legislators agreed to changes requested by Gov. Abigail Spanberger. As a result, the version of the bill that will become law on July 1 is now free of language that would prohibit a full examination of the events at the U.S. Capitol that day.
The change reflects thoughtful action in response to concerns raised by PEN America and other advocates about the original measure.
As the time for Spanberger to act on HB 333 in its initial form ticked down, PEN America appealed to the governor not to sign it, because the bill employed the same censorship tactic state politicians have been using to target discussions about race, gender, sexual identity, and history across the country. Time and again, we have seen how limiting instruction through vague language in state law constrains students’ freedom to learn by stopping educators from introducing specific subjects, ideas, or arguments in their classrooms.
Among our concerns, the original bill prohibited “a description or portrayal of the actions precipitating or involved in the events of the January 6, 2021, insurrection as peaceful protest” from being even “presented” as credible. Experts like journalist Nora Neus have noted there were peaceful protesters there at the same time, though much of the crowd was violent.
While legislators may have intended to ensure that the events that day are not whitewashed, PEN America argued, the language in the bill would have been an educational gag order making it impossible for students to have nuanced conversations about what happened. Well meaning or not, the bill dictated content and perspectives allowed in K-12 classrooms, something that should never be decreed by elected politicians.
PEN America’s letter encouraged the state to consider alternative paths designed to ensure integrity and inquiry in the classroom, including by reviewing educational standards and curriculum, thus providing a way to address the legitimate concern of disinformation about Jan. 6. without resorting to ideological diktats.
Ultimately, Gov. Spanberger did just that. Instead of simply vetoing the bill, she offered an alternative that will support teachers in responsibly educating students, and avoided setting them up to violate state law with restrictive and vague language. PEN America advocated for legislators to accept the proposal.
The version enacted into law requires the state Board of Education to consider whether curriculum changes are now needed to emphasize instruction on 21st Century history and current events, including on Jan 6, 2021. This will facilitate the use of traditional processes driven by educators and subject-matter experts to address disinformation, rather than relying on politicians to decide what is or isn’t true.
“We at PEN America applaud Gov. Spanberger and the Virginia legislature for recognizing that the original HB 333 would have set a harmful precedent of government censorship in the state’s classrooms,” said Laura Benitez, senior state policy and government affairs manager for PEN America. “We are grateful for their demonstrated commitment to preserve students’ freedom to learn. Virginia legislators have shown that it’s possible to combat disinformation without resorting to government censorship.”
