GOP wants to defund public schools over critical race theory
Conservatives want to defund public schools over critical race theory that debunks their view of a flawless nation, and they might succeed without a coordinated strategy to fight them back.
Lately, conservatives have been ramping up their attacks on critical race theory — which can range from teaching or explaining the legacy of slavery to segregation to modern-day racism — as a threat to America.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday called critical race theory “harmful to young people” and that “America should be united around shared values, not divided by different shades of color.”
Cue former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who went further, saying the teachings are “really dangerous.”
“If we teach that the founding of the United States of America was somehow flawed. It was corrupt. It was racist. That’s really dangerous. It strikes at the very foundations of our country,” he said on Twitter.
Conservatives are leaving nothing to chance. They’re inundating social media with their messaging and passing laws in GOP-controlled state legislatures banning critical race theory in K-12 public schools.
They have another subplot going that could be equally or more devastating to public schools and particularly to minority students who already are largely segregated in their neighborhood districts.
Conservatives call their subplot academic transparency.
But what it really does is encourage parents to take their kids out of public schools that teach critical race theory and take taxpayer supported education funding elsewhere. This matters because a good chunk of K-12 school funding is distributed to districts based on the number of children enrolled.
Matt Beienburg, the director of education policy at the conservative Goldwater Institute, argues that state laws “banning critical race theory and other racially and politically divisive material” are only a partial bandage.
Instead, he argues for academic transparency to force schools to list what they teach so parents can decide to enroll their kids or not.
“Schools, in turn, would find themselves under a meaningful spotlight for the first time and have to decide whether pushing political activism is truly worth alienating potential enrollees,” Beienburg writes.
Then he gets to the heart of it — boycott schools.
“Schools respond to incentives (particularly financial),” he added. “And scaring off the $10,000 (or more) associated with each potential student will force schools to rethink the wisdom of pandering to political organizers rather than committing to classroom fundamentals.”
This approach is nothing less than a coordinated crusade to defund public schools — one child at a time.
Targeting parents and encouraging them to boycott public schools is a brilliant political strategy for conservatives who want to keep teaching kids that America is a flawless nation and that anyone who disagrees with that assessment hates this country.
And they might just succeed. Don’t forget that Republicans have a proven track record at systematically defunding public schools and diverting tax dollars via vouchers to private institutions.
Democrats and anyone else who want to teach students historical facts without omitting the bad and the ugly need a coordinated strategy to fight back.
How can they do that?
First, they need to galvanize their political base to defend critical race theory and get more people to vote in next year’s midterms to flip Republican-control legislatures.
Second, local governing school boards are key. There has to be coordinated and aggressive efforts to elect
people sympathetic to promoting an inclusive society.
Once critical race theory is universally taught or permitted, parents’ only option would be to take their kids to private schools with tuition that should come out of their own pockets.
Third, parents can help, too. They should passionately support those school board members and teachers who come under attack.
Critical race theory deserves to be taught in school; it deserves to be vigorously defended, too.
This approach is nothing less than a coordinated crusade to defund public schools — one child at a time.