MARIETTA — On Monday, 56 senators and 180 state representatives will convene for the annual session of the Georgia General Assembly.
Ahead of the 40-day session, the MDJ sat down with four lawmakers who represent Cobb County — Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, and Reps. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, and Sharon Cooper, R-east Cobb.
The lawmakers discussed issues which may come up under the Gold Dome this year, ranging from health care to education to cityhood and more.
Education
The Cobb and Marietta school boards were venues for intense debate in 2023 over book bans.
Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale is now asking the state legislature to develop a rating system for library books.
Ragsdale himself admitted that he doesn’t expect lawmakers to create such a system this session.
“I don’t expect something to come out of what we’re asking about the rating system … But at least let’s start a conversation,” Ragsdale said at a recent meeting of the Cobb Legislative Delegation.
In the interview, Anulewicz, who chairs the Cobb Legislative Delegation, said the state doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are already age recommendations on the back of many children’s books, she noted, and resources such as Common Sense Media, a nonprofit website which rates books, movies, television, games and other forms of media to inform parents about potentially troubling content.
“I think people need to know that school librarians have not just arbitrarily been picking books and putting them in libraries,” Anulewicz said. “There already is a rating system in place, so I guess I’m trying to figure out why we in the General Assembly think we are better qualified. We’re not school library professionals, we’re not media specialists.”
Cooper, however, said educators are not without their own flaws and biases.
“Just…
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