OPINION: Bill to Federalize CRT Must Be Stopped
Originally Published on The National Review
You might think the national parents’ rebellion against critical race theory (CRT), along with the resounding gubernatorial victory of CRT opponent Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, would be enough to protect us from federal legislation designed to impose CRT on America’s schools. You would be wrong. It looks like a federal CRT bill is around the corner.
A plan to introduce a revised version of the Civics Secures Democracy Act (CSDA), a bill that would turn CRT and “action civics” (leftist protests for course credit) into Common Core 2.0, is well underway. The coalition of leftist “civics” groups behind the new CSDA is desperate to rake in the $6 billion windfall the bill would hand them. This is their last chance to tap into the federal gravy train before the Democrats likely lose control of Congress. If passed this year, the revised CSDA would also set these pro-CRT leftists up as the arbiters of a de facto national curriculum, regardless of what happens in the midterms.
The revised version of CSDA only seems to eliminate its radical political elements. Once you understand the latest educational lingo, it’s obvious that this bill will allow the Biden administration to nationalize CRT. The danger is that naïve Republicans, unfamiliar with leftist education theories and eager to associate themselves with anything labeled “civics,” will be duped into cosponsoring this disastrous bill.
A year ago, I warned against the original version of the Civics Secures Democracy Act and noted that several other federal bills with essentially the same intent were being proposed as well. Around the same time, the Civics Alliance convened by the National Association of Scholars issued an appeal to Texas Republican senator John Cornyn and Oklahoma Republican representative Tom Cole to withdraw their cosponsorship of the Civics Secures Democracy Act. Although Cornyn and Cole did not back off — and in fact Cornyn issued bogus excuses — the original version of the Civics Secures Democracy Act appears to have languished since then. Now, however, the leftist civics community has designed a stealth version of CSDA in hopes of hoodwinking naïve Republicans into becoming cosponsors. That would rebuild momentum for the bill….