COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — An Ohio legislator says a bill to charge educators with felonies for handing out “obscene” materials is needed after substitute teachers saw books in the classroom “depicting actions that students don’t need to be seeing.”
The legislation, House Bill 556, received a Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee hearing on Dec. 3 and would establish “criminal liability for certain teachers and librarians for the offense of pandering obscenity.” The bill would charge teachers and school librarians with fifth-degree felonies — punishable by a sentence of six to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 — for creating, reproducing, publishing, promoting or advertising “obscene material.”
“We’ve had people reach out from my district and throughout the state … saying, ‘I came in as a substitute teacher, we saw there were things graphically depicting actions that students don’t need to be seeing sitting there on bookshelves,’” said Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon), the bill’s primary sponsor, during the hearing.