‘Critical race theory bill’ for Texas schools headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk
Debate over what educators can and can’t teach when it comes to current events, history and race in the Texas Legislature has seeped into school board meetings and become a talking point for North Texas school board candidates, as a “critical race theory” bill appears to be headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
House Bill 3979 has emerged as a hot-button issue in the Texas Legislature. The Senate significantly changed the bill on May 22 when it was up for a floor vote. The House had the option to accept the amendments and send the bill to Abbott or send the bill to a conference committee to come up with a compromise version.
Neither of those actions happened Friday when the House considered the bill.
Instead, when the bill was presented, Rep. Steve Toth, a Woodlands Republican and the bill’s author, said he would OK the changes. But before he could, a point of order drawing attention to a potential rule violation was raised by Rep. James Talarico, a Round Rock Democrat.
The procedural maneuver was successful and the bill was returned to the Senate with about three days left in the session. Lawmakers adjourn May 31. Talarico’s office declared the bill effectively dead in a news release.
But the Senate had other plans when — despite pushback through another point of order — the body voted 18-13 to recede from the changes it made to the bill and declare the bill to have passed in the Senate in the same form it passed from the House.
Typically, when a bill passes in the opposite chamber with no amendments, it heads to the governor’s desk. Toth said late Friday the bill is indeed off to the governor. Speaker Dade Phelan’s office confirmed that was next for the bill after it’s signed off by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Phelan.
“The House, as a body, has no action to take,” Enrique Marquez, Phelan’s communications director, said in a text.
Talarico questioned the constitutionality of the maneuver Friday night, saying it ignored a prohibition against passing a House bill after the 135th legislative day.
“It’s ironic that Lt. Governor Patrick ignored the Texas Constitution to revive a bill about civics,” Talarico said in a statement. “I’m proud that my point of order forced the Senate to pass the House version of HB 3979, which includes important Democratic amendments requiring Texas educators to teach the history of white supremacy.”
What’s in HB 3979?
As the bill made its way through the legislature, conversations have emerged locally about it and the teaching of critical race theory, which refers to a school of thought originating in the ‘70s and ‘80s that analyzes how racism impacts the U.S. and its various systems.
Supporters of the bill say it’s needed to make sure teachers don’t push a political ideology in classrooms, an analysis of the bill shows. Opponents say the bill would lead to lessons ultimately that limit a student’s ability to critically analyze current events and history.
”So the question is do you want our Texas kids to be taught that the system of government in Texas, in the United States is nothing but a cover-up for white supremacy?” Toth said on the floor earlier in the session, describing the bill as a being about “teaching racial harmony.”
State Rep. Mary Gonzáles, D-El Paso, pushed back against Toth’s characterization of critical race theory. She studied the theory while earning her PhD and said it helped her to understand society in a way that allows her to be loving, compassionate and a unifier.
The bill has seen multiple iterations over the course of the session. The version that’s headed to Abbott’s desk doesn’t explicitly use the phrase “critical race theory,” but states that a teacher can’t be compelled to discuss “a particular current event or widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.” Teachers who do discuss such topics with their students must do their best to “strive to explore the topic from diverse and contending perspectives without giving deference to any one perspective,” the bill says.
Teachers also wouldn’t be able to teach the concept that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex” or that “an individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” and students would be barred from getting school credit for political advocacy.
Unlike the Senate version of the bill, the House version does not call for the development of a civics training program for teachers. The House version also includes a more robust list of documents and concepts to be taught as part of social studies curriculum, including writings related to the Chicano movement, women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement.
Talarico had questioned why Toth was accepting the Senate’s version of the bill, which didn’t include a House amendment that requires teaching the history of white supremacy and that it’s morally wrong. That amendment is now on the bill being sent to Abbott.
“The way it’s set out is so that a teacher can go to different documents and different authors by which to teach from,” Toth said at the time. “It’s by no means meant to be a conclusive list. “
Debates boil in Fort Worth, North Texas
Earlier this week, more than a dozen people attended a Fort Worth ISD school board meeting to oppose critical race theory, including some who expressed support for the the bill. Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner, joined by Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, have opposed the bill.
The superintendents said it was “a detrimental solution in search of a problem that does not exist” in a letter opposing the bill and a similar Senate measure that has since died.
“Now more than ever before, we must educate our children on the social and political issues that have shaped our past and our present,” the letter reads. “To prohibit discussions about controversial subjects, current events, and especially racial issues, would be to replace an honest and well-rounded historical education with historical revisionism.”
Scribner told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that there are no classes in the district requiring critical race theory, but that instructing students on U.S. history and social issues naturally involves conversations about race.
More than 90 organizations oppose the bill, including Fort Worth ISD, Dallas ISD, Crowley ISD, Richardson ISD and the Texas PTA, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association.
The conversation around critical race theory has been amplified in recent months in Texas as the bill is debated, but for local districts debates about addressing diversity and racism in schools are nothing new.
In Southlake, there’s been debate over whether to enact a diversity plan called a Cultural Competence Action Plan. Opponents of the plan include conservative groups Texas Values and Southlake Families, who backed newly elected Carroll ISD board members Hannah Smith and Cameron Bryan.
Texas Values Policy Director Jonathan Covey said HB 3979 wasn’t one of the group’s priority bills for the session, but that it does support the bill.
“This kind of a theory sets up people for failure by telling them that America was not created for them, that the American dream was never theirs,” he said. “And in fact, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ... was promised to all Americans regardless of their gender, or their color or their social circumstances.”
Ken Heymann, a Southlake parent whose daughter is graduating, opposes the bill and has reached out to his lawmakers about the measure.
“The purpose of a law is to prevent bad things from happening to people or to promote good things for people,” he said, noting that critical race theory is a theory with both proponents and opponents. “But it doesn’t pose a danger to the Republic. What does pose a danger to the Republic is telling high school teachers if they discuss a controversial subject they need to make sure to give equal airtime to opposing views.”
Critical race theory debated by school board candidates
In Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, critical race theory has been a talking-point in a race for Trustee Place 1. Candidate Shannon Braun called the theory the “single most divisive threat that we have in education” in a video shared on social media, adding that it’s “already in our schools.” Braun did not return a request for comment from the Star-Telegram.
“I’m committed to working alongside our parents and teachers to ensure GCISD students get the education they deserve by returning the focus of our curriculum and teaching to academics, rather than filling curriculum with divisive Critical Race Theory training,” she said in a Wednesday Facebook post.
In a statement, the district said its curriculum doesn’t include instruction on critical race theory. The district did not weigh in on the merits of the bill.
“Through optional professional development over the past several years, staff have had the opportunity to participate in trainings and discussions that focus on serving our diverse student population,” the district said. “Given that GCISD has 59 home languages spoken, it is important to engage in conversations regarding how to support all students throughout their entire educational experience in GCISD.”
Braun’s opponent in the June 5 runoff, incumbent Mindy McClure, stressed that critical race theory isn’t taught in the district and said it wouldn’t be appropriate for a pre-K-12 curriculum.
“If they want to pass a a bill saying we can’t teach something we were never going to teach anyways, by all means do,” she said.
But McClure said she is concerned about language in the bill limiting teachers’ ability to teach current events
“I just don’t understand where this distrust of teachers is coming from,” she said.
A candidate in the race for the District 9 seat on Fort Worth ISD’s school board, Roxanne Martinez said it’s up to legislators to craft law and it’s the job of a trustee to uphold the law. She said critical race theory is causing division and distracting from student achievement. She also noted that it’s important students be taught a true, accurate history that includes the contributions of people of color.
“I still think that we must have culturally relevant curriculum and instruction in schools, and so I don’t agree with... anything that is going to ban culturally relevant curriculum or instruction,” Martinez said.
Cade Lovelance, who’s in the runoff with Martinez, did not return a request for comment.
In Mansfield ISD’s runoff for its Place 4 seat on the school board, Corrine Fiagome didn’t weigh in on the bill but did note there are misconceptions about what teachers are doing in the classroom. Her opponent, Keziah Valdes Farrar, did not return requests for comment.
“It’s not trying to knock any other culture or history down,” Fiagome said. “They just want to see our own contributions to Texas, the great state that we call home, and America, the great country of which we are citizens, we want to see us also represented in the histories and the conversations about the valuable contributions of America.”
Yolanda McPherson, a candidate for the Place 2 seat in Mansfield, said she does not support the bill. McPherson, who is African American, said she’s personally encountered racism during her bid for school board and believes that history needs to be taught comprehensively and in a way that’s age appropriate.
Her opponent, Desiree Thomas, did not return a request for comment.
“My belief is that if you are going to teach history, it can’t just be his-story,” McPherson said. “It’s got to encompass everything that has molded America. And yes, some of the stuff is not good. … It needs to be understood, we are not teaching racism. That’s not what this is about. It’s about telling the truth and letting the truth be heard in speaking truth to power.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 5:17 PM.
