PHOENIX – A teacher’s role may be to expand a student’svocabulary, but one Arizona lawmaker wants to make sure thatdoesn’t include four-letter words.

A state legislator has introduced a bill that would punish publicschool teachers if they use words that violate the obscenity andprofanity guidelines set forth by the Federal CommunicationsCommission.

State Sen. Lori Klein introduced the measure because a parent inher district complained about a high school teacher using foullanguage.

The words were “totally inappropriate,” and teachers that don’tkeep their language clean aren’t setting a good example forstudents, she said.

“You’re there to be educated,” Klein said. “You’re not there totalk smack.”

Critics say the bill is unnecessary, and any discipline neededshould be handled by schools and districts, not theLegislature.

Klein, a Republican from Anthem, made national headlines last fallwhen she pointed her gun at a reporter while demonstrating theweapon’s laser sight during an interview.

Klein’s proposal may be constitutional, but “not necessarily wise,”said James Weinstein, a Constitutional Law professor at ArizonaState University

Weinstein said the FCC has made exceptions for offensive languagebased on context, and that could make things complicated.

“FCC standards aren’t exactly black and white,” said AnjaliAbraham, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union. Theorganization has some concerns about the bill, Abraham said.

A spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislators saidthe organization is not aware of any other state with a law similarto the Arizona proposal.

If the bill becomes law, a teacher whose speech or conduct violatesFCC regulations would receive a warning, and after three incidents,the teacher would face a week of suspension without pay. A teacherwould be fired after the fifth offense.

The proposal applies to K-12 teachers, and is limited to speech ina classroom setting.

Klein told the Senate committee Wednesday that she wished the issuecould be left to school boards, but she didn’t feel they wereprotecting “young, impressionable kids” from offensivelanguage.

Floyd Brown, the parent in Anthem who complained to Klein, knowsbetter than most what kind of impression words can make.

Brown is a longtime Republican strategist who produced the infamous”Willie Horton” ad during the 1998 presidential campaign, whichtied Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis to the release of aconvicted murderer serving a life sentence.

Brown is also the founding chairman of Citizens United, the groupwhose lawsuit led to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that barred thegovernment from limiting corporation and labor union spending forpolitical purposes.

Last year, Brown’s daughter Olivia came home from high school upsetthat a teacher was using the F-word in class. Brown brought theissue to school administrators, but they didn’t take him seriously,he said.

Brown said he pulled his daughter, then a sophomore, out of theschool and she’s now being homeschooled.

“I’m not going to subject my daughter to that kind of environment,”Brown said

Brown said he took his complaint to Klein because he lives in herdistrict.

A representative for the school district said the school receivedno complaints about staff using inappropriate language, which wouldviolate the district’s professional conduct policy.

Most districts adopt professional conduct policies barring the useof profane language or actions by employees while at work, saidTracey Benson, a spokeswoman for the Arizona School BoardsAssociation, which creates model policies for districts.

That policy should remain in the hands of school boards,superintendents and principals, said state Sen. David Schapira, aTempe Democrat.

The state doesn’t need to change the law just because there was oneincident that “may not have been handled the right way,” hesaid.

“I don’t remember this being a big problem when I taught highschool,” Schapira said.

A Senate committee advanced the measure Wednesday morning by a voteof 5-2 along party lines, with Republicans in favor. The bill mustpass through another committee before it goes before the fullSenate.

Sen. Frank Antenori, a Republican from Tucson, voted in favor ofthe bill and cited a recent report he had read that detailed apattern of abusive language being used by teachers and otherstaffers in some Tucson schools. Antenori said some of the commentswere “pretty darn shocking,” and he couldn’t believe the employeesdidn’t lose their jobs.

Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, who voted against the bill, saidadministrators and school boards should be the ones to punisheducators, not the Legislature.

“We’re really holding a big hammer over teachers,” Gallardosaid.

Kelly Parrish, an English teacher at Desert Vista High School inPhoenix, said she always keeps her conduct professional in theclassroom, but she feels the restrictions could cause trouble whenthe curriculum is not “G-rated,” she said. Words that the FCC wouldnot allow on television or radio can come up while discussingliterature, such as racial slurs in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” shesaid.

“We’re supposed to be preparing them for the next level,” Parrishsaid. “If we just put them in a bubble and protect them, I don’tthink we’re doing a good job at making them ready for real-lifesituations by sugar-coating everything.”