Texas on Tuesday became the latest conservative state to bar certain concepts related to race and racism from being discussed in the classroom, ignoring the passionate objections of educators who say the new law will make it harder for them to teach about America’s true past and present.
A bill that legislators say sought to ban “critical race theory” in school — but never defined or mentioned the concept explicitly — stirred fear among educators that there could be repercussions for broaching current events during class.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the broad legislation into law without fanfare, according to the Texas Legislature Online service. The law will go into effect in September. The governor’s spokeswoman did not respond to The Dallas Morning News’ requests for comment Tuesday night.
Now, educators and civics advocates question how the vague language in the bill actually translates into the classroom and whether a legal challenge could strike it down. They’ll be closely watching how the State Board of Education takes on the Legislature’s mandate and revamps Texas’ social studies curriculum.
“We’ve got a piece-of-junk legislation for us to work with,” said Pat Hardy, a Republican member of the State Board of Education and a former history teacher who had hoped Abbott would veto the legislation.
The Legislature approved the bill in the dramatic final days of session after hours of debate and procedural back and forth. Teachers and education groups made impassioned pleas against it, saying it would have a chilling effect on social studies classrooms — particularly in teaching current events — and stymie districts’ work to address racism and equity in schools.
“This will stifle the teaching of huge, important facts about history, which still affect much of our life today,” said Clay Robison, the Texas State Teachers Association spokesman. “Teachers and students need and deserve the whole truth about our history, our culture and what our problems are.”
But Republican lawmakers championed the bill, which mirrors language being passed in other red states and parrots parts of former President Donald Trump’s rescinded executive order targeting “critical race theory.”
The bill’s author, Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, told his Texas House colleagues that the legislation was necessary “at a time when racial tensions are at a boiling point” and that “we don’t need to burden our kids with guilt for racial crimes they had nothing to do with.”
What does this law prohibit?
While the legislation was labeled an “anti-critical race theory” bill, it doesn’t actually contain those words. Instead, it includes a long list of subjects and ideas that must — or must not — be taught. Critical race theory is an academic framework that explores how racism is embedded in U.S. policies and systems.
Recently, though, conservative pundits and politicians have attempted to conflate it with a slew of other concepts, such as diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training, social justice activism or multicultural curricula.
Teachers can’t be “compelled to discuss a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs,” according to the new law. In January, for example, teachers grappled with how to properly teach about the U.S. Capitol insurrection and the inauguration of the first female vice president — knowing that the topics could be considered controversial but that the issues were on students’ minds.
If schools do discuss such issues, they can’t give “deference to any one perspective.” That provision enraged Democrats, who questioned how teachers should, for example, explore both sides of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
Teachers also aren’t allowed to give credit for students to participate in lobbying or public policy internships. Civics groups say such work prepares students to be engaged citizens and connects what they’re learning in the classroom to the real world. But some argue that it inappropriately steers students to activism.
Within social studies classrooms, teachers can’t teach a variety of ideas, including that a person is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, either consciously or unconsciously. This comes as many districts are working on exploring how teachers’ unconscious bias — the stereotypes people may not be aware they have — can negatively affect students of color.
School districts are also prohibited from requiring training that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of race or sex.
Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa fears this provision could prevent ongoing districtwide training efforts over cultural competency. The training is part of a larger initiative to address the disparities Black students face at school. Trustees last year unanimously adopted a resolution declaring that Black lives matter.
The 1619 Project — a favorite target of conservatives — is explicitly called out in the legislation. The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning work sought to reframe American history around slavery’s consequences and the contributions of Black people.
The law prohibits teaching that “slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States.” Several of the Founding Fathers owned slaves.
What will this mean inside classrooms?
The language in the bill is vague and subject to interpretation. Education groups worry that ambiguity and fear could stop some teachers from broaching many topics in the classroom.
“We’ll have principals in conservative communities who don’t want a backlash and will put in place blanket expectations of ‘Don’t talk about anything controversial in your classroom,’’’ said Renee Blackmon, president of the Texas Council for the Social Studies. “That way they’ll feel like they’re safe from community reproach — and then teachers are on eggshells.”
It’s unclear how the law’s provisions will be executed, leaving Blackmon concerned about “whack-a-mole enforcement.”
Veteran social studies teacher August Plock has taught at Pflugerville High School near Austin for 22 years and feels he has earned the support of his campus leaders, which makes him more comfortable navigating tough issues.
But a young teacher newly out of college may not have the same confidence in current events discussions that could draw pushback from families.
And while Plock acknowledged that each teacher should strive to present a diverse range of perspectives on any controversial topic, he said the legislation could remove debate from the classroom.
He said teachers will have to consider: “Are you willing to present something, knowing that potentially you could get blowback from it? Are you willing to go there?”
Hinojosa worries that “every teacher will be terrified that someone is going to be recording them and turn them into the ‘racial police.’”
“That is no way to operate,” he said.
Dallas officials have reached out to statewide and national groups for guidance on how educators should proceed as district lawyers evaluate exactly what the bill will mean for teachers and students when it goes into effect.
Will there be a legal challenge?
Even before Abbott signed the bill, there were rumblings of potential legal action among civics and education groups.
DISD’s Hinojosa was among the most outspoken regarding possible litigation. During a May school board meeting, he noted that district lawyers were “doing their homework” on the bill.
“I don’t like to threaten litigation very often, especially not from behind a microphone, but some of us have been talking,” he said, alluding to a group of school leaders nationwide who are concerned about similar legislation.
Dallas school leaders were still in the process of reaching out to lawyers and game-planning their response, he said this month.
And district leaders aren’t the only ones doing their homework.
“We’re investigating potential legal claims,” said David Hinojosa, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, based in Washington, D.C.
What is the role of the State Board of Education?
One section of the new law is quite prescriptive on social studies as it requires specific lessons, such as those on Native Americans and on the history of white supremacy and the ways it is morally wrong.
Some of these curriculum additions were tacked on by Democrats — who opposed the overall bill — the night the measure passed the House.
But before Texas students see the changes in their classrooms, it will be up to the State Board of Education to incorporate them into curriculum standards. The bill’s passage aligns with a process of revamping social studies curricula that is set to start in early 2022 — a decade after the process was last completed.
Revamping curriculum typically takes a year, but that could change depending on other factors, said board Chair Keven Ellis, R-Lufkin. A revision of science standards that started in early 2020 is continuing, he noted.
Once the board approves the new standards, members then will have to approve new textbooks and teaching materials. That means changes to social studies curriculum may not be rolled out to students for some time, though the legislation instructs the board to revise the standards by Dec. 31, 2022.
A slow process could be a good thing, said board member Marisa Perez-Diaz, D-Converse, who is hesitant to touch the legislation amid threats of litigation.
“I want to be very, very cautious in terms of what we amend in the current [social studies standards] because we don’t know what is going to happen with this bill moving forward,” she said.
And Perez-Diaz isn’t the only one wary of the bill.
Hardy, the Republican member, does not think critical race theory should be taught in schools but considers this bill neither an effective deterrent nor a way of strengthening civics education. She had hoped the governor would not sign it.
“I think the bill is just that worthless,” she said.
What is critical race theory?
The mere insinuation of critical race theory in schools has riled the Legislature, trustee races and board meetings, even as it’s often misunderstood.
Critical race theory is a decades-old method of legal analysis that centers on race and racism in the understanding of the country’s systems and policies. Discussion of it was long confined to academia.
Among the tenets of critical race theory are that racism is commonplace; that progress for underrepresented groups is encouraged only to the extent that changes benefit the status quo; and that concepts such as colorblindness and meritocracy are myths to be rejected.
In today’s political climate, the theory has become a catch-all for a variety of other concepts such as diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training, social justice activism or multicultural curricula. It’s derided by many conservatives and often slammed on Fox News.
Salandra Grice, author of The Conscious Educator, said one of the biggest misconceptions about critical race theory is that it is being taught in grade schools.
“Critical race theory is not being taught in K-12 schools,” she said during a recent NAACP Dallas panel. “This is not what we do. What are y’all talking about?”
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