S.C. House members from Aiken County split by party on bill banning critical race theory

Apr. 21—Aiken County's South Carolina House of Representatives delegation split along party lines on a bill that seeks to ban critical race theory from the state's public schools.

S.C. Reps. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken; Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta; Melissa Oremus, R-Graniteville; and Bill Taylor, R-Aiken; were among the 73 mostly Republican members of the S.C. House to vote in favor of the bill.

S.C. Reps. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, and Lonnie Hosey, D-Barnwell, were among the 40 mostly Democratic members to vote against the bill.

Thursday's vote marks the House's first action on the bill since 72 members voted to invoke cloture — no additional amendments could be filed and debate is limited to the existing amendments and the bill itself — in early April.

That vote was also largely partisan with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. In Aiken and the surrounding area, the vote was largely the same except Hixon did not vote.

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 earlier this month 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.

The bill will likely be up for a perfunctory third reading at the next session of the House. From there, it heads to the South Carolina Senate. But the Senate can only consider the bill if a supermajority of the Senate votes to consider it.