Dear Colleagues:


The Biden Administration, now officially past the 100-day mark in office, has wasted no time trying to implement an education agenda that puts more control and decision-making in the hands of federal officials. From staggering spending proposals <[link removed]> to prescriptions about classroom content <[link removed]>, the Biden Administration is quickly bringing big government into the schoolhouse.

Deadline for public comment on proposed Critical Race Theory rule is May 19

The Biden Administration has issued a proposed rule to prioritize grant applications for American history and civics programs that infuse Critical Race Theory into their content. This rule, if implemented, would instill Critical Race Theory into the American History and Civics Program, part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – the largest federal law governing K-12 education. As Heritage’s Jonathan Butcher, Mike Gonzalez, and I wrote in comment <[link removed]> we submitted to the Department of Education on the proposed
rule:
“The Department of Education should not advance official federal policies that support teaching students that their futures are determined by the color of their skin. Nor should the Department of Education fund programs that teach children that others should be stereotyped, judged and denounced based on their skin color, as critical race theory does. We urge the Department of Education to abandon this proposed rule.”

As we explain, the proposed rule undermines the intent of the American History and Civics Education programs, transmits a toxic message to children of all backgrounds, and, when applied in practice, violates federal civil rights laws. At the same time, it would insert Critical Race Theory into grants that are part of the nation’s main federal education law. As the Independent Women’s Forum’s Inez Stepman and I write <[link removed]>:
“If the Biden administration gets its way, the federal government will soon be alternatively bribing and threatening every school district in the country to push divisive and damaging curricula on race in the classroom…
But the rule’s consequences would be more than academic. It would infuse critical race theory <[link removed]> into the whole of the federal government’s
primary governing law concerning K-12 schools, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. And if Congress standardizes state civics metrics, the rule will help shape the content of it (and do it with a billion-dollar-a-year cash infusion <[link removed]>), unwittingly moved forward in a bipartisan way by Republicans.”

You can comment on the proposed rule here <[link removed]>.

Here’s What Else We’ve Been Following


- Antonucci: Has Teachers Unions Pressure on the CDC Turned the Government’s Best Scientific Guidelines into a Bargaining Chip? <[link removed]>
- Ladner: Country Roads, Take Me Home to the Place I Belong <[link removed]>
- Check out Project Nickel, a new tool that enables you to compare school spending in neighborhoods across the country <[link removed]>
- Pondiscio: Some Things I’ve Learned <[link removed]>
- Heritage Foundation: 5 Things You Need to Know about Biden’s $1.8 Trillion American Families Plan <[link removed]>
Warmly,



Lindsey Burke
Director
Center for Education Policy
Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation

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