Dear [Your Elected Official],

<p>Please, vote NO on HB1605 and HB1632 on January 30 in the K-12 Subcommittee.</p> <p>As HB1605 is written, it bans all flags at school excpet the American flag and the Tennessee flag. It is common to display various flags in world language and history classes. It is also common to display military flags when the colors are presented at sporting events. Some schools even have their own flag. It is completely unreasonable and disruptive to ban these flags. If the bill is amended to allow exceptions, then flags that are still not permitted will subject the bill to higher scrutinity in the courts because of First Amendment questions.</p> <p>HB1632 allows parents to sue a school district to enforce the Age-Appropriate Materials Act of 2022. We should not encourage parents to sue school districts over the materials in a school library or classroom. It is extremely troubling that parents would have standing to sue even if they do not have a child attending a school in the district. That creates a threatening environment for schools when we should be doing all we can to show support for public education.</p> <p>Thank you for considering my views.</p>