North Carolina Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus), left, listens to testimony during a hearing of the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 27, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
North Carolina House Republicans introduced a bill Thursday that would ban books from elementary school libraries and allow the state to withhold salaries from school district leaders who violate the state law known as the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.”
House Democrats said Republicans are trying to distract voters from their failure to address the lack of the state budget and the rising cost of living in North Carolina.
House Majority Leader Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) announced the bill’s filing Thursday during a legislative oversight hearing on whether Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District leaders are in compliance with the 2023 law.
On X, Jones said he introduced House Bill 1043 bill in response to what he called the district’s “blatant disregard for state law.”
The measure, titled the Curriculum Honesty, Compliance, and Child Safety Act — or “CHCCS Act,” sharing initials with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools — would authorize the state auditor and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to investigate districts and impose penalties for noncompliance. Those penalties could include fines as well as the withholding of central office salaries and state funds until violations are corrected.
H1043 would also define library materials that aren’t used in classroom instruction as part of the “curriculum,” expanding the term to include “electronic, print or non-print resources for independent use.” That change would bring library collections under state restrictions on instruction in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Thursday’s meeting featured a repeat appearance by CHCCS Superintendent Rodney Trice, accompanied this time by Al McArthur, the district’s director of digital learning and libraries. The two leaders defended the district’s practices, saying school library books are optional reading, not instructional material, a distinction key to compliance with the law.
NC Republican lawmakers grill Chapel Hill-Carrboro School leaders over parental rights law
The hearing, while tense, lacked the theatrics of a past hearing last December in which Jones, who chairs the committee, threw a book from a CHCCS school’s library on the floor, calling it “trash.”
Jones blamed CHCCS leaders for the follow-up hearing Thursday. “You made us do this,” he said. “You forced it by your continual refusal to follow the law at the expense of innocent children.”
During the nearly three-hour hearing, Jones and other Republicans accused district officials of trying to circumvent state law, pointing to a list of 155 books in elementary school libraries they say violate the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
Trice said the district includes books reflecting a range of student experiences, including LGBTQ+ families. “It’s an expectation… that the resources we provide students reflect the diversity in our community, which includes gay students.”
He said books cited by lawmakers, like “Granddad’s Pride,” are available in school libraries for optional reading.
Republican lawmakers disputed that idea, arguing that the district’s own description of libraries as supporting the curriculum makes the books subject to restrictions on teaching gender identity in kindergarten through fourth grade.
McArthur said CHCCS has long given parents the ability to make sure their students don’t have access to books they don’t want them to read, although he said few parents have ever asked to do so.
“Parents can have conversations with their school librarians… to ensure that whatever title… they disagree with is withheld from their child,” said McArthur.
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SUPPORTJones’ bill would also tighten the law requiring districts to notify parents when students raise questions about gender identity. Republican lawmakers on the panel accused CHCCS officials of trying to circumvent the law in their directions to teachers about the issue.
Trice said parents are notified when there is a formal change to a student’s records. He said the law does not require notification if a student does not proceed with a request.
Democratic lawmakers defended the district and criticized the hearing as a distraction from broader issues, including the state budget and teacher pay, and noted that CHCCS is one of the highest-performing districts in the state.
“House Republican leadership is focused on hauling in school districts to yell at them,” House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said in a statement.
“If the Majority wants to talk about following the law, then it should start with the Constitution, including the First Amendment,” said Rep. Maria Cervania. “Certain ideas, and minorities, are being singled out unlawfully in this hearing and we need to apply the law as written, not as the Majority would like it to be.”
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