Former President Donald Trump has called on parents to elect and remove school principals. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. And Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations who is expected to announce her White House candidacy this coming week, is among Republicans taking aim at the important race principle.
In the early stages of the 2024 GOP presidential race, the “parents’ rights” movement and lessons for school children are emerging as flashpoints.
Focusing on issues related to racism, sexism, and education is a way for potential White House candidates to differentiate themselves in a crowded field, giving the government new and deeper ways to shape what happens in local classrooms. suggests methods.
But the effort has drawn criticism from LGBTQ advocacy groups, teachers’ unions, some parents and student activists, and those concerned about the attempt to avoid lessons of systemic racism. Democrats have characterized these efforts as race-bullying and inappropriately injecting politics into schools.
“What we’re seeing now, at least in this period, is a greater focus on so-called ‘culture war’ issues,” said Jeffrey Hennig, professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Nowhere is the drive more visible than in Florida, where DeSantis has made an aggressive push against “woke up” policies.
He gained national attention last year for signing into law the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, prohibiting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for young elementary school students, as well as material deemed not age-appropriate. Critics have argued that it is ambiguous. and may suppress class discussions. He also signed the “Stop Woke” Act in 2022, a law that prohibits teaching that members of one race are inherently racist or should feel guilty about past actions by others of the same race, among others Apart from things.
DeSantis has also extended his political influence to local school board races, endorsing candidates in what was a nonpartisan contest last year and flipping at least three boards from a liberal majority to a conservative majority.
Most recently, he barred high schools from teaching a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies, saying it is in violation of state law and historically inaccurate. Beyond K-12 schools, he appointed six conservative trustees to the board of a small liberal arts college, and he announced plans to ban state colleges from running programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and critical race doctrine.
Critical race theory, a way of thinking about America’s history through the lens of racism, has been a top target. The theory, which DeSantis called “harmful”, was seen by scholars in the 1970s and 1980s as a lack of racial progress since the Civil Rights Act of 1960. It centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the country’s institutions, which serve to maintain the dominance of white men in society.
As DeSantis emerges as the most formidable potential challenger to Trump, who has staked out his own positions on similar issues and recently released a nearly 5-minute video calling his campaign “American A plan to save education and give power to parents”. ,
Declaring that “public schools have been taken over by radical leftists,” and warning about “pink-haired communists teaching our kids,” Trump pledged, if a re-elected president, he would cut federal funding for any school or program he promoted. Critical race theory, gender ideology or other inappropriate racial, sexual or political material on our children.
Trump said he planned to create a national certification organization that would certify teachers who “embrace patriotic values, support our way of life and understand that their job is not to inspire children and would establish favorable treatment for states and school districts that adopt the reforms. Like allowing parents to directly elect school principals.
“If a principal isn’t doing a job, parents should have the authority and the right to vote them out or fire them and choose someone else,” Trump said at a campaign event in South Carolina.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is considering a presidential campaign, is using a group formed to unite conservatives against transgender-affirmation policies in schools. The group’s plan to run ads, hold rallies and campaign in the early voting state of Iowa comes as a federal appeals court is set to consider a case involving an Iowa school district’s policy to support transgender students. is ready.
In the US, public education is run by the states and largely paid for by state and local taxpayers. For example, the federal government does not certify teachers or regulate how schools hire staff. And Washington doesn’t even regulate curriculum standards like DeSantis has supported in Florida. But Congress or the Department of Education can encourage certain education practices by tying them to federal funds.
So it’s nothing new for presidential candidates to talk about education.
George H.W. Bush announced that he wanted to be known as the “Education President” and began a push for national standards and goals. His son, George W. Bush focused his message on education reform in the 2000 campaign and, during his first year of administration, signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, which ignited a national debate over the proper use of standardized tests. Testing in schools.
The recent divisive push for social issues in schools is the result of Glenn Youngkin’s successful bid to become the first Republican in more than a decade to be elected governor of Virginia in 2021. Youngkin, herself a potential presidential candidate in 2024, campaigned on parental rights. He appealed to parents frustrated by school closures during the pandemic and said he would ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools.
Once in office, his administration began the process of rewriting the state’s model policies for treating transgender students, issued guidance for school divisions that would roll back some accommodations, and tightened parent notification requirements. Will do
Kristin Davison, a strategist for Youngkin’s gubernatorial campaign, said Youngkin focused on education after the pandemic pushed parents into the classroom, creating frustration with distance learning in the curriculum.
“Voters want their leaders to understand the issues they are talking about at their kitchen tables,” she said. “Right now, families are sitting on their kitchen tables looking at report cards, homework assignments, frustrated at the curriculum.”
The debate over education still gained emphasis during last year’s elections, potentially giving Republican presidential candidates a reason to focus on the issue. Half of the voters in 2022 said their local K-8 schools were teaching too much about gender identity issues, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of voters. Only about one-quarter said that schools teach very little about the subject.
Nearly 4 in 10 voters said too little is taught about racism in the US, while nearly one-third said schools are teaching too much on related issues. Roughly one-quarter of voters said the focus on each is “about right”.
There was broad agreement among Republicans – nearly 8 in 10 said gender identity is taught too much in schools. A smaller majority, 56%, said that about racism.
Among Democrats, nearly two-thirds said little is taught about racism. But there was less agreement about teaching gender identity. Nearly 4 in 10 said too little is taught, nearly 2 in 10 said too much is taught and nearly 4 in 10 said schools do it well.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, and strategist who worked on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, said GOP messages about child safety are aimed at trying to win over suburban women, who gravitate away from Trump and the GOP. especially after the Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for an abortion last year.
“I think it’s getting extra energy because of its appeal or its perceived appeal to women voters,” she said.