The largest teacher union in Tennessee is challenging the state for curricula restrictions that have been imposed on them.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) together with five other educators from public schools on Wednesday filed a suit in the case of Tennessee Commissioner of Education and members of the State Board of Education to contest the “constitutionality” of the restrictions that are imposed on teachers who teach the gender and racial aspects of.

The lawsuit contests the banned concepts law that was enacted in 2021 and prohibits certain topics and subjects from being taught in classrooms.

Teachers’ unions claim that this law “prohibits teaching of core subjects in Tennessee State Standards, which puts teachers in an impossible position and deprives students of a quality education.”

The lawsuit claims that it is an “unconstitutionally vague” law violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and makes the process of the task of teaching difficult for Tennessee teachers because they don’t have an “reasonable chance to comprehend the is prohibited by the law and is a source of “arbitrary or unfair enforcement.”

“There is no group of individuals more passionate and committed to ensuring Tennessee students receive a high-quality education than public school educators,” Knox County Educator and Tennessee Education Association President Tanya T. Coats stated. “This law interferes with Tennessee teachers’ job to provide a fact-based, well-rounded education to their students.”

“Laws need to be clear. The prohibited concepts law conflicts with the state’s own academic standards and curriculum, which creates unfair risks to Tennessee teachers using state-approved materials, following state standards, and providing fact-based instruction,” Coats continued. “Educators have already spent countless hours trying to understand and navigate the law’s unclear requirements.”

As per the law the Tennessee teachers are forbidden from teaching their students to think they are “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously.”

Additionally the law also restricts schools from teaching the idea of “an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex” and “an individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex.”

The penalty for any violation is severe. A state commissioner for education can take away money from any school discovered to be in violation.