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In a largely party-line vote, the Virginia House of Delegates approved legislation that will as to whether their children are assigned sexually explicit materials in schools.

Monday鈥檚 vote sends the bill, which , to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for a signature. Youngkin listed the legislation as part of his 鈥渄ay one game plan鈥� and has made parental input into public curriculum a central part of his political platform. One of his campaign ads featured a Fairfax County mother who to remove Toni Morrison鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 鈥淏eloved鈥� from her son鈥檚 high school Advanced Placement English course.

The language of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, is to legislation that passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support in 2016. If signed into law, it would require the Virginia Department of Education to draft model policies on notifying parents of any sexually explicit materials assigned in class.

Parents would also be permitted to review the material and request alternative assignments. Every local school district would be required to adopt a policy consistent or more comprehensive with the statewide model. 

Once a bipartisan issue in Virginia, the push to give parents greater control over potentially controversial curriculum has become politically contentious since the gubernatorial race between Youngkin and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Youngkin criticized McAuliffe for vetoing the 2016 bill on the campaign trail while pledging to ban other 鈥渄ivisive concepts,鈥� including critical race theory, from public schools.

The idea of banning books has also sparked fierce local debate, both in Virginia and nationwide. Multiple school districts, including and , temporarily removed multiple texts from school library shelves after parents complained about explicit scenes. attracted national attention after banning the graphic novel 鈥淢aus鈥� 鈥� a visual retelling of the Holocaust from the perspective of the author鈥檚 father 鈥� from being taught in classrooms.

Dunnavant鈥檚 legislation wouldn鈥檛 apply to library books, but Democrats have argued the bill amounts to classroom censorship.

鈥淭he consequences of this bill are clear,鈥� said Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, before Monday鈥檚 vote. 鈥淭eachers who are already overworked are not going to create two lesson plans. So what they鈥檙e not going to do is, they鈥檙e not going to teach the most controversial or dynamic or insightful ideas.鈥� 

The bill鈥檚 definition of 鈥渟exually explicit鈥� comes from a that limits what content state employees can access on government-provided computers. Republicans have consistently argued the legislation gives parents a reasonable level of control over what their children are exposed to in school.

鈥淭o steal Del. Kilgore鈥檚 phrase, let鈥檚 all calm down for a minute,鈥� Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, responded.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not an overly broad definition,鈥� she added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something we don鈥檛 let adults in the Commonwealth access if they鈥檙e state employees.鈥�

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