Kelly calls complaints about critical race theory in Kansas schools a ‘nothing burger’
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday dismissed outrage over “critical race theory” — an academic concept that is not part of public school curricula — as wholly manufactured.
“I think this is a nothing burger that’s been cooked up to get people up in arms about something that’s not real,” Kelly said in an interview.
State lawmakers are preparing to bring that outrage to next year’s legislative session, in the form of proposals to ban the teaching of critical race theory and develop a “bill of rights” for parents and students. Kelly said they should leave curriculum issues to districts in conjunction with families.
“With that said I am also a very strong believer that you hire professionals, and you elect school board members to deal with curriculum,” she said. “I think we just need to continue to operate the way we have in the past. It resulted in Kansas having one of the most solid educational K-12 systems in the country.”
There’s no evidence that critical race theory, a college and law school-level concept that examines the role of institutions in perpetuating racism, is taught in Kansas schools. But the term has become a catch-all phrase for objections to a range of materials touching on race and diversity. Lawmakers say elements of the theory are influencing classroom content.
At least three legislators have said they are planning to introduce measures that would ban the content from the classroom. Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican who chairs the House K-12 budget committee, said she supports the establishment of a “parents bill of rights” to help individuals push back on classroom content rather than banning particular curricula.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThe Bigger Picture: Critical Race Theory
Until recently, critical race theory was a body of advanced study discussed primarily in law schools beginning in the 1970s.
Developed by a group of Black legal scholars led by Harvard’s Derrick Bell and Kimberle Crenshaw, critical race theory is a response to what they perceived as the failure of the 1960s civil rights movement to bring about the kind of structural change it promised. CRT examines how racism and white supremacy remain embedded in essential institutions such as education, criminal justice, real estate and finance.
Nothing approaching the complexity of critical race theory is taught in most public elementary or secondary schools. Over the last couple of years, however, a network of conservative think tanks, activists and wealthy donors have seized on CRT and depicted it as an attempt by liberal educators to indoctrinate schoolchildren in an ideology of hatred for the U.S.
CRT has evolved into an umbrella term to denounce any attempt by schools to introduce more context to the uglier chapters of American history, such as slavery, Jim Crow and the treatment of Indigenous people. This distortion has spawned dozens of bills in state legislatures to eliminate an essentially nonexistent threat.
Kelly didn’t explicitly say how she would respond to such legislation if it makes it to her desk. But her comments Monday, and previous vetoes of curriculum-related policies, indicate a veto is likely.
“I have a record on legislating curriculum,” Kelly said. “I very much believe that the legislature should not be legislating curriculum.”
Kansas lawmakers held two days of committee hearings early this month to discuss student achievement and other education issues including critical race theory.
Lawmakers heard from parents across the state concerned about books in their school’s libraries, diversity and inclusion initiatives championed by districts and discussions in individual classrooms among other matters.
The hearings followed parent complaints in school board meetings across the state and country. In the November elections, the GOP saw many victories driven by parental rights issues.
Williams pointed to that testimony as evidence of “critical pedagogy” in schools that divides students based on race and violates their 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law.
“Anyone that denies that critical pedagogy is being incorporated hasn’t looked at the evidence,” Williams said. “Now that I understand what is happening at the local school level I can’t turn a blind eye.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
