COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – A new bill could change the way classroom instruction is handled in South Carolina’s public schools. If passed as written, the bill would require all K-12 public schools to install cameras inside classrooms.

Representative Mike Burns (R – Greenville) pre-filed the bill, and he said it is crucial to ensure students are learning only what, he says, is supposed to be taught in the classroom.

“I don’t think there are that many teachers in the state out of bounds, doing stuff that they shouldn’t be, particularly in the climate that we’re getting ourselves into now, there’s a lot of push backs on, you know, all this DEI stuff and all this sexual orientation for the students,” said Burns. “…If your child’s getting exposed to that…you want some you want some boundaries and some guardrails where your child’s not getting subjected to this stuff”

The bill says teacher, student, and parent consent would be needed depending on if the child is under or above 18 years old. In the footage, children’s and teacher’s faces would be blurred due to privacy restrictions.

Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, said she spoke with several teachers who said, if passed, the bill would be their “final straw.”

“Primary focus should be teaching and learning and anything that distracts from that which is what this bill does, it’s a huge distractor it’s a huge stressors for teachers, it would make someone reconsider teaching or not going into the profession,” said East.

East added another issue is the financial implications of the bill.

“We’re struggling, you know, for supplies, resources that are needed. This would be a huge drain on a district to one the physical to just install the cameras, but the monitoring of the cameras,” she said.

Burns said he doesn’t know exactly how much money this will cost but he doesn’t think money will be a problem.

“They have, you know, $10 – 11 billion going to education, for federal and state funding, and you know, they got all the technology to tape everything and bring the kids online, tape everything going on in the halls, in the lunchrooms. I mean, the technology is already there in the school system to do these things in most every district in the state,” Burns said.

Burns said the bill is all about accountability and if teachers are doing what they are supposed to do there shouldn’t be an issue.

The bill was referred to the Committee on Education and Public Works on January 14.