(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and 19 other attorneys general are demanding that the Biden administration abandon proposals within the U.S. Department of Education to insert flawed curriculum into classrooms that rewrites American history.
The radical proposal seeks to issue educational grants that will impose teachings of critical race theory (CRT) and the 1619 Project which interprets history through the narrow lens of race.
“We need to learn from the real evils of slavery and racism, but these proposals will only create more misunderstanding," Yost said. "Critical race theory is nothing more than ideology posing as history and we should not confuse the two. ”
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, state attorneys general urge the Department to review the directives for teaching “traditional American history” as prescribed in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.
“Congress made clear that the purpose of the (ESSA) programs is to advance a traditional understanding of American history, civics, and government,” the letter states. “The proposed priorities would do little to advance that goal.”
The ESSA was described by the Wall Street Journal as the “largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter century.” The legislation gave authority back to parents, teachers, and local communities in deciding education policy.
“This is just more federal overreach,” Yost said. “Decisions about curriculum should remain a primarily local matter and not subjected to political whim out of Washington. Certainly, a fringe view that is not generally and widely accepted should never be mandated out of Washington, D.C.”
Indiana’s letter is joined by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
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Luke Sullivan: 614-270-2662
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