Rokita Leading 20 States in Opposing funding for Critical Race Theory in Schools
(The Center Square) – Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is taking the lead in a 20-state fight against a proposal that has been issued by the U.S. Department of Education that the AGs say will force critical race theory into American schools.
“This proposed rule aims to co-opt America’s traditional U.S. history and civics curriculum by imposing the deeply flawed and radical teachings of critical race theory into the classroom,” Rokita said in a news release.
Rokita and the other attorneys general sent an 8-page letter to the Department of Education on Wednesday urging the department, now under the leadership Miguel Cardona, to either drop the proposal or at least make clear that federal money can’t be used “to fund projects that are based on CRT, including any projects that characterize the United States as irredeemably racist or founded on principles of racism (as opposed to principles of equality) or that purport to ascribe character traits, values, privileges, status, or beliefs, or that assign fault, blame, or bias, to a particular race or to an individual because of his or her race.”
On April 19, 2021, the Department of Education issued two proposed “priorities” that would direct federal grant money to projects that “incorporate racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse perspectives into teaching and learning” and projects that “promote information literacy skills.”
Specifically, the money would go to programs that train new teachers and also veteran teachers in how to teach American history, civics and government and would also go toward programs that involve teaching high school students about American history and/or civics.
In 2018, three grants were awarded, including one for $1.4 million for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, for “Uncovering an Alternative Narrative: Diverse Contributions to American History and Civics.”
A second one, for $3.5 million, was awarded to the Kentucky Educational Development Corporation, and a third, for $2.8 million, to the Center for Civic Education, based in Calabasas, California.
In his release and in the letter to the Department of Education, Rokita mentions the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed in 2015, which he’d supported as a member of Congress. The bill, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama, gave back to states and local communities control over much of the K-12 curriculum. It also created grant programs to encourage the teaching of American history and civics. But not the kind the Biden administration seems to be conjuring up, Rokita says.
“Congress made clear that the purpose of the programs is to advance a traditional understanding of American history, civics, and government,” the letter signed by Rokita and the other attorneys general says. “The proposed priorities would do little to advance that goal and, based on the proposal’s support for the ‘1619 Project,’ would endorse teaching factually deficient history. Moreover, the implementation of these priorities will, in practice, lead to racial and ethnic division and indeed more discrimination. These issues will be addressed in turn.”
The other states whose AGs signed the letter are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
Todd Rokita previously served as Indiana’s secretary of state and from 2011 until 2018 was a member of Congress representing the 4th congressional district, west and northwest of Indianapolis.
“When I co-authored ESSA in Congress, the intent was to get away from Washington-driven one-size-fits-all education policies and teach traditional American history and civics,” Rokita said in his statement. “We don’t need a new liberal indoctrination project that endorses factually deficient instruction and racial division.”
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