Critical Race Theory bill hearing is Monday in Senate

By DAVID BOYLE

Alaskans have a chance to ensure their children are not indoctrinated in Critical Race Theory and Marxist ideology in Alaska’s public schools. Senate Bill 196, “An Act relating to transparency and compelled speech in public education,” would enable parents to know what their children are being taught. 

The next hearing on this bill is on April 4 at 9 am in the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Roger Holland. Those wishing to sign up to testify or provide written testimony to Senate can reach the committee at [email protected]. Provide specific instances of your child being taught that one race is superior to another, that one race is inherently racist, or instances of teachers teaching disrespect for America. 

The first part of the bill requires school districts/schools to post curriculum on their websites. This would ensure that curricula which addresses Critical Race Theory principles — principles that say some races are inherently racist or privileged — would be visible to parents and the community.

This is not a requirement to post any copyrighted teaching material, but to provide parents with the learning objectives and list the resources being used to teach their children. 

Parents have a need to know what their children are being taught. Knowing what children are being taught enables a parent to reinforce those principles and concepts at home. Posting the listed material being used in a classroom is far more important than posting what is being served for lunch.

Is the education system being used to indoctrinate our children in a woke culture? Should our public education system be teaching our children that they are inferior to others or a victim, or an oppressor simply because of the color of their skin?  Are Alaska’s children being taught about multiple genders and other sexualized content?

Do you believe it is the parent not the public education system that should teach children about these issues or should the schools focus on the basic ABCs of education, topics where the schools are currently failing the children?  

The second part of the bill deals with what is called “compelled speech.”  This deals with students not being required to participate in political activism or lobbying efforts.  

Some legislators will state that this is not and has not happened in the past. But this is happening and has happened in the past.

Gov. Bill Walker worked with the Anchorage School District in 2015 to get students to support his budget. He provided his budget information to the students in a very biased way. Here is the exact wording of instructions to the students for their assignment:

“Students have a homework assignment that requires them to take a survey home and spread the word. You may be able to identify some consensus upon which method may be best to solve our budget problems. They also get extra credit if they post on our blog their results.”

Students should learn about how our government works, the legislative process, and how a bill becomes law. But they should not be used to promote a political agenda anytime, anywhere. Under Gov. Bill Walker, students were political pawns, indoctrinating their own family members.

SB196 would also prohibit the education industry from using students to travel to Juneau to lobby for more money for that industry.

The bill would prevent students from being compelled to believe America is basically racist or sexist; or compelled to believe one is inherently racist because of the color of one’s skin.

Some legislators believe there is no need for this bill because none of the principles of Critical Race Theory is being taught in our schools.  But they are wrong. The Anchorage School District is in the process of hiring a new superintendent. As a part of that process the district provided a survey on its webpage that asked about values in a superintendent.  

One of these qualities is the dog whistle: “Is able to lead district diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.”  This is a direct reference to Critical Race Theory and its tenets. It’s just stated in a way that makes it look benign.

The contract with the superintendent search firm has an entire page devoted to “Inclusion, Equity and Elimination of Institutional Racism.”  It says, “We will recognize systemic racism as an equity problem for children’s access to a fair, thorough and effective public education” It would appear these tenets of CRT are vital for the new superintendent selection.  

Read about the superintendent search criteria here. 

You can read more about the bill at this legislative link. 

According to the sponsor statement for the bill:

Transparency: A public school including charter schools shall display on school’s website, regularly updated, all training material used for teachers, instructional or curricular material, school procedures, title and author of materials, and any organizations associated with the material, a brief description and link to the material and identity of a teacher if they produced the material.

Prohibit Compelled Speech: The classroom may not be a venue for political activism, lobbying efforts. A student or teacher, administrator, or other employee must not be compelled to adhere to the belief or concept that the United States, the state, or individual is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist, that an individual by virtue of sex, race ethnicity religion or color or national origin, an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by their sex, race, ethnicity, religion color or national origin.

Enforcement: The Attorney General may commence civil action in the superior court to enjoin a state agency, school district’s governing body, charter school, or public school from violating transparency or compelled speech.