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Dear Colleagues:

Earlier this week, I joined Kevin Jackson as part of a Goldwater Institute virtual event entitled "A Time for Choosing: Critical Race Theory or the American Dream?" Kevin, a former management consultant, is an author, commentator, and radio show host who describes himself as having grown up “ just a poor kid, who was fortunate enough to have been exposed to what the world has to offer in a most unique way.” He lost his mother when he was a child, and his father spent time in prison. But he was determined not to let his circumstances get in the way of success.

Kevin and I talked about critical race theory, a philosophy that argues people must be racially discriminatory against others in order to force equal outcomes in public and private life. While the mainstream media says critical race theory is not being taught in schools, I pointed out that the Portland Public School system has a Critical Race Theory Coalition that met as recently as last April; Loudon County Public Schools contracted with a teacher professional development organization that specializes in critical race theory; and California’s new ethnic studies curriculum, which state officials created, uses the critical race theory idea of intersectionality to explain perceived oppression.

So when “experts” say “critical race theory is not what is being taught in K-12 education curriculums,” we should ask why some K-12 programs use the words “critical race theory.” Stay tuned for more work from our team demonstrating how critical race theory is changing math and science curriculum. A recording of the event is available here .

Elevator Pitch: Critical race theory is racially discriminatory and has no place in American life.

What Else We’re Working On

Talking about school boards. I joined the American Enterprise Institute’s Max Eden along with Mary Hasson from the Ethics in Public Policy Center on a panel hosted by the Family Research Council. We discussed school boards and the policy issues these officials are facing today—including critical race theory’s racial prejudice.

You can read Max’s latest commentary on the issue here; Mary’s work at EPPC is available here; and you can find Heritage’s research, commentary, and media on critical race theory’s discrimination here.

For more on this event, click here.

Education department should not revive harmful school discipline policies. Lindsey Burke and I joined with Sarah Perry, legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Center, and Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, to submit an official comment in the Federal Register warning that a new Department of Education announcement could lead to reimplementing dangerous school safety and student discipline guidelines. From our comment:

“Crafting education policy on the foundation of racial differences is never the right answer. Unfortunately, this announcement invokes the 2014 ‘Dear Colleague’ letter from the Department of Education and Department of Justice to K-12 public schools that resulted in schools maintaining quotas of students disciplined according to race.

“That federal policy micromanaged local school discipline matters, discriminated against students based on their race, and unlawfully expanded the federal government’s authority in local education.”

You can access the full comment here.

Upcoming Event

At the State Policy Network (SPN) annual meeting this year I will speak with Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Policy Foundation, and Michael Chartier, senior director of policy initiatives at SPN, about the long-term expectations for learning pods after the pandemic. Will the trend last and what policies are needed to make pods successful? Our session will be held on September 1. You can register for the event here.

Interested in joining our team? Apply to be our new Research Associate and Project Coordinator. Warmly, Jonathan Butcher Will Skillman Fellow Center for Education Policy Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity The Heritage Foundation

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