{"id":574533,"date":"2021-07-14T13:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=574533"},"modified":"2021-07-14T12:46:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T16:46:42","slug":"in-special-legislative-session-texas-lawmakers-look-to-further-restrict-critical-race-theory-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/in-special-legislative-session-texas-lawmakers-look-to-further-restrict-critical-race-theory-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"In Special Legislative Session, Texas Lawmakers Look to Further Restrict Critical Race Theory in Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

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C<\/span>onservative lawmakers wasted no time answering Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s call to enact further restrictions on how race is taught in relation to the nation\u2019s history in public and charter school classrooms during a special session of the Texas Legislature.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, filed Senate Bill 3<\/a>, which would go beyond House Bill 3979 that lawmakers passed in May. Like that bill, Hughes\u2019 new legislation does not explicitly refer to \u201ccritical race theory,” an academic term Republicans in statehouses across the nation have latched onto in recent months.<\/p>\n

Critical race theory is an academic framework that examines systemic racism in U.S. laws, policy and society, which Texas teachers say is not taught in K-12 schools.<\/p>\n

SB 3 calls for the state education commissioner, who the governor appoints, to create a civics training program for educators that includes \u201cguided classroom discussion of current events.\u201d It also tasks the commissioner with determining the appropriate grade-level for such discussions.<\/p>\n

The bill strikes out provisions House Democrats added to HB 3979 by Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands \u2014 which Abbott signed into law last month \u2014 that sought to diversify the historical figures and events students learn about, including the Chicano movement; the women\u2019s and civil rights movements; Native American history; and the history of white supremacy, including slavery, and \u201cthe ways in which it is morally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgina P\u00e9rez, a Democrat who represents the El Paso area on the State Board of Education, said SB 3 is an effort by Republican lawmakers to \u201ccompletely erase\u201d people of color, who look like students on the border, and women from the state\u2019s history books.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are nothing but a strikethrough\u201d to these lawmakers, P\u00e9rez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould you be any clearer that you only want the history of white dudes\u201d taught to Texas public school students, she added, describing Hughes’ bill as an effort \u201cto force children to learn a version of revisionist history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Some of the provisions of House Bill 3979, that takes effect Sept. 1, 2021, that Senate Bill 3 seeks to remove.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Hughes\u2019 office did not respond to a request for comment on SB 3.<\/p>\n

The bill was referred Friday to the Senate State Affairs Committee. A public hearing on it has yet to be set.<\/p>\n

Abbott made further cracking down on critical race theory one of his 11 priorities for the special legislative session<\/a>, which began July 8. A special session can run up to 30 days but Abbott can call as many as he chooses during the interim. The regular session ended May 31.<\/p>\n

In a statement last month, Toth\u2019s office called HB 3979 \u201cone of the strongest prohibitions on Critical Race Theory in the country\u201d and said it \u201cpromotes harmony in the classroom by prohibiting the teaching of racial superiority or collective guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The graduate-level theory is not taught at the K-12 level, said Jeffrey Shepherd, the chair of the history department at the University of Texas at El Paso.<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical race theory helps us understand how race is socially constructed but (also) reproduced in law and other economic, political, (and) social institutions across the United States,\u201d Shepherd said.<\/p>\n

Spokespersons for the El Paso and Socorro Independent School Districts said their districts follow the state social studies standards, known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, which the State Board of Education sets. The TEKS do not include critical race theory, P\u00e9rez said.<\/p>\n

SB 3 maintains HB 3979\u2019s ban on teaching that \u201can individual, by virtue of the individual\u2019s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,\u201d or that an individual \u201cbears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

It further maintains HB 3979\u2019s language that barrs districts from compelling teachers to discuss current events and social issues.<\/p>\n

Toth though filed a new bill Thursday, House Bill 178<\/a>, to remove that provision from his original bill. Educators who choose to teach current events would still need to \u201cexplore the topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective.\u201d HB 178 has yet to be referred to a committee.<\/p>\n

Legislation restricting education about racism, which comes in the wake of nationwide protests against police killings of Black Americans, is about more than banning critical race theory, Shepherd said: \u201c(It’s) being used for a broad and somewhat vague and flexible assault on what legislators think is a threat to present day political, social, and racial and gender relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was one of more than 200 educators and historians who wrote an open letter to the Texas Senate<\/a> during the regular sessions urging members to vote down HB 3979 and its companion legislation in the Texas Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemoving lessons that teach students how ideas of race and gender shaped our laws and policies will academically disadvantage students in Texas,\u201d the letter read. \u201cThey will not be prepared to take Advanced Placement exams for college credit. They will not have the basic foundation in US history or the analytical skills required for students to succeed in colleges and universities.\u201d<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rez views Abbott\u2019s focus on critical race theory in the special session as an attempt to pander to his far-right base. The governor is up for re-election in 2022 and faces at least three primary challengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to continue the Texas miracle, it\u2019s going to have to include factual, actual history,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cAnd with all due respect, if Gov. Abbott thinks teachers in Texas are going to take this with a spoon of sugar, he has lost his ever-loving mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Federation of Teachers, one of the country\u2019s largest teachers unions which has chapters in EPISD and SISD, said days before<\/a> the start of Texas\u2019 special session that it will defend its members who are punished for \u201cteaching honest history.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared <\/span><\/i>at El Paso Matters<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n