FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Legislation that would detail how Kentucky teachers educate their students about history, particularly on thorny issues related to race and gender, cleared the Senate Education Committee on Thursday.
Senate Bill 138, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise and called the Teaching America’s Principles Act, cleared the panel on a 9-4 vote. Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, joined the committee's three Democrats in opposition.
Critics of SB 138 fear the measure would stifle teaching of important but controversial topics, but Wise, a Campbellsville Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said the legislation aims to “unify” in a divisive time.
SB 138 would require public schools and charter schools to align instruction with concepts like equality, equal protection under the law, personal agency and that slavery and discriminatory laws passed after the Civil War contradicted fundamental U.S. ideals. Attributing racial disparities solely on the institution of slavery "is destructive to the unification of our nation," the bill says.
The bill notes that teaching about the histories of ethnic groups, controversial aspects of history or the historical oppression of certain groups of people is not restricted.
Teachers could continue teaching about current events related to public policy or social affairs under SB 138, but instructional materials would be required to be age-appropriate and respectful to “differing perspectives of students,” the bill says.
Students could not be incentivized to advocate for a position the student or their family do not support, and public school and charter school employees could not be required to undergo training that compels them to stereotype groups, according to the latest version of SB 138.
“We’re not telling teachers what they can and cannot teach and what our students can or cannot learn,” Wise said, urging opponents to read the committee substitute to SB 138.
Opponents of the measure, however, were not convinced.
“Though some of the more egregious wording has been removed, this substitute should still raise serious alarm bells to those who cherish academic freedom,” said Donnie Wilkerson, a history and social studies teacher in Jamestown.
“Who will comprise the new book police perusing our shelves for volumes they deem not relevant, not objective enough or disrespectful to contending perspectives? Must I now remove time-honored scholarly works from my fifth-grade shelves because they're written outside the range of knowledge of my students?”
Sen. Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, said she had "major concerns" with the legislation.
"Our teachers must not be censored, and our history must not be skewed," she said in explaining her opposing vote.
Wise and others in Kentucky's General Assembly have filed bills related to history education amid renewed focused on critical race theory, a decades-old academic concept that examines the impact of racism in U.S. laws and institutions.
Critics have used the term in grievances against classroom lessons on race and district equity initiatives, for example.
"Over this past year, community constituents, educators, parents and students alike have very passionately and articulately shared samples student assignments that they perceive are increasingly about indoctrination into a particular worldview rather than education that equips students to think critically," Wise said. "They have also shared the frustration in seeking the source of curriculum authority and where parents can get engaged in the process."
State and local officials like Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass and Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio have said critical race theory is not taught in public school classrooms to their knowledge.
Glass, in a statement, thanked Wise for incorporating feedback from the Kentucky Department of Education and other stakeholders in the latest version of SB 138.
"Our concern remains that the state legislature, through a process that is political by design, is mandating curricular resources," Glass said. "This is a significant change from Kentucky’s long-standing tradition of local control over such decisions. We maintain that these decisions are better left at the school and district level."
SB 138 would require KDE to incorporate several "fundamental American documents and speeches" into grade-level social studies standards for middle and high school students by July 1, 2023.
Documents include the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, three essays of The Federalist Papers, landmark U.S. Supreme Court case rulings, and writings and speeches from politicians and activists like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., according to the bill.
SB 138 moves to the Senate floor for further action.
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