The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Ohio House Republicans are trying to ban diversity and inclusion in K-12 schools.
House Reps. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Township, recently introduced House Bill 155. This is a companion bill to Ohio Senate Bill 113, which has had two hearings so far in the Senate Education Committee.
Both bills would require every local board of education in the state to adopt a policy that would end any current diversity and inclusion offices or departments and ban any diversity, equity, and inclusion orientation or training. It would also prevent the creation of any new such offices or departments and using DEI in job descriptions.
Lear and Williams recently gave sponsor testimony on their bill to the Ohio House Education Committee.
“The increasing incorporation of DEI programs has shifted the focus from educational fundamentals to ideological indoctrination,” Lear said. “These initiatives prioritize identity over ability, promote racial preferences over fairness, and undermine the principle of equal opportunity for all students.”
The pair of Republican lawmakers argued banning DEI would cause less division among students.
“Through legislation like this, we hope to cultivate an educational environment that promotes unity and harmony among students, focusing on our commonalities rather than differences,” Williams said. “By treating all of our students and staff the same, we can allow our educators to focus on core academic subjects and ensure high-quality outcomes for every student in Ohio.”
Education committee members — on both sides of the aisle — peppered the lawmakers with questions for about 40 minutes.
“DEI is toxic,” said state Rep. Kevin Ritter, R-Marietta. “The sooner it’s out of our schools, the better. With that in mind, prohibition without consequences is meaningless.”
Lear said they plan on adding enforcement measures to the bill in the coming weeks through an amendment.
Some of the Democratic lawmakers pointed out how the bill doesn’t define DEI.
“How is a school supposed to figure out what that means?” state Rep. Phil Robinson, Jr., D-Solon, asked.
Williams said he wouldn’t give a narrow definition of DEI.
“The easiest way to answer that is to teach the subjects you are supposed to teach,” Williams said when Robinson pressed him on the question. “You don’t need to infuse DEI into the curriculum.”
State Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, continued to ask for a definition of DEI.
“If we don’t define what DEI is, how can we expect teachers to not mistakenly break the law?” he asked.
Williams said it would ultimately be up to the individual school boards to come up with a policy.
“We’re not trying to make a cookie-cutter system,” he said.
This bill comes as two federal lawsuits by the ACLU and the National Education Association are challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to ban DEI programs in K-12 schools.
RELATED: Federal judge blocks Department of Education's guidance on DEI amid split response among states
“How do you craft legislation when it’s a little bit unclear right now from the federal government where things stand?” asked state Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna.
Williams, who is a lawyer, said he knows lawsuits can take a while and is “not willing to allow school districts to continue to indoctrinate children for the next four to six years while those lawsuits pend, just because somebody wanted to file a lawsuit.”
