A Republican lawmaker faced pushback from some members of his own party over a bill that aimed to ban corporal punishment against students with disabilities in Oklahoma schools …
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00:00Proverbs 29, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
00:10So that would seem to endorse the use of corporal punishment.
00:15So it tells us that if you will not use the rod on a disobedient child, you do not love that child.
00:24That's what the book said.
00:25That's how one lawmaker argued against a bill in Oklahoma
00:28that would have banned corporal punishment used on students with disabilities in schools.
00:32Representative John Talley proposed the bill,
00:34which would have banned hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping,
00:37and other physical force as a form of discipline against students with disabilities.
00:41We should be voting on special needs kids not being spanked.
00:47The Republican lawmaker, however, faced backlash on the measure
00:50from some members of his own party who cited the Bible in their arguments.
00:54Somebody mentioned American Pediatrics thinks that it's a bad thing.
01:00I beg to differ, and I have a greater authority.
01:04God is a greater expert than all of the self-professed experts.
01:12Why don't we stick with God's word?
01:14Other lawmakers fought and supported the bill,
01:16with some touching on their own personal experiences.
01:19But at 37 years old, I struggle very much with the things that my mother did by using her hands.
01:26My mother used chopsticks to slap my back so that I would listen to her.
01:32She'd pull my hair so I would listen to her, so I would behave.
01:37A child needs to go someplace safe, and you'd hope that would start at home.
01:42And God bless the children who go home who have parents who hit them
01:46and use the Bible as justification.
01:48Under current policy, in school districts where corporal punishment is allowed,
01:51parents of children with disabilities must sign a waiver to allow for it.
01:55Although the bill was favored 45-43, it ultimately failed
01:58because it did not obtain the majority of 51 lawmakers it needed in order to pass.