The study below examines how school administrators and staff across districts approach and understand impacts of North Carolina’s 2023 Senate Bill 49.
A stated goal of this “Parents’ Bill of Rights” is to promote transparency in school-based processes in the interest of supporting parental autonomy and engagement. Drawing on interviews with 25 staff members representing 10 schools across four districts, we examine how participants approach four provisions of SB49: parental review and objections; parental review of health-related content; teaching gender and sexuality; and name and pronoun change notifications.
We found that staff approaches to SB49 varied meaningfully across and within districts. Across districts, participants typically cited negative impacts, while some factions also cited no impacts or positive impacts. This work highlights how SB49 differentially takes shape and consequently implicates the educational experiences of students across locales.
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Key findings
- School staff used similar processes to enable parental review of and objection to materials. However, participants in some districts responded to objection by restricting material access for the student in question, whereas participants in another district reported that texts to which parents objected were removed from the larger district. These approaches aligned with respective district guidance.
- Participants generally reported that they did not and had not engaged in teaching regarding gender and sexuality. Still, this provision resulted in a “chilling effect” in which participants observed increased scrutiny of materials to ensure they complied with the bill. Some participants explained that their continued use of texts that represented diverse characters complied with the requirements of SB49.
- Participants applied discretion regarding which student name changes required parental notification, with some applying the policy to all students, others applying the policy solely to gender-nonconforming students, and others generally refraining from parental notification based on concerns regarding potential student endangerment.
Impacts of SB49
- Staff across districts reported that SB49 eroded professional autonomy and contributed to a climate of mistrust between parents and educators. Other participants perceived practices related to SB49 as increasing opportunities to communicate with parents.
- Participants primarily identified negative impacts of SB49 for students, including decreased exposure to diverse identities, increased vulnerability for LGBTQ+ youth, and limitations to supports for student well-being.
- Some educators identified new opportunities to develop family-school relationships. However, staff observed increased requests from specific families as opposed to broader family engagement. Concerns arose regarding the extent to which SB49 amplified the interests of families who objected to materials over those who desired continued access for their children to the same materials.
You can read the full report, from the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC), below.
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