TOPEKA — Lawmakers in the Kansas House began laying the groundwork last week for redirecting taxpayer money from public to private schools by holding a two-hour hearing on complaints two parents have with diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, organized the discussion on “critical pedagogy” as a rebranding of critical race theory, although the parents and members of her K-12 Education Budget Committee continued to invoke CRT as the anti-American “religion” lurking behind staff training and curriculum in schools.
Rep. Patrick Penn, R-Wichita, introduced familiar legislation at the start of the hearing that would allow parents to pull their share of state aid out of a public school and into a savings account, where the money can be applied to private school tuition. Williams scheduled a hearing on House Bill 2550 for Tuesday.
In an interview last week with Americans for Prosperity, Williams outlined goals for her committee. They include installing a parental bill of rights, to make sure parents know what their children are being taught in school, and providing “school choice,” a reference to using taxpayers dollars for private schools.
“We do want the money to follow the student,” Williams said. “If the student succeeds, Kansas succeeds, our communities succeed, our families succeed. It’s a win-win.”
The conversation on critical pedagogy pitted David Smith, spokesman for Shawnee Mission School District, and Mark McCormick, spokesman for ACLU of Kansas, against Denise Roberts, who removed her children from Shawnee Mission schools, and Tamara Seyler-James, a parent in the Blue Valley School District.
The two white parents objected to themes of LGBTQ tolerance, implicit bias, white privilege and white fragility. There was no indication from William that parents of Black or LGBTQ students would be able to air their grievances before the Legislature.
“They purport to teach my child about implicit bias, and then drive the conversation exclusively toward the topic of whites behaving badly, as opposed to balancing the equation and stating that everybody, no matter their skin color, is human, and is flawed and could commit the sin of bias and racism,” Seyler-James said. “I find that problematic.”
McCormick objected to remarks Williams made in a hearing last year in which she connected critical race theory to teachings that cause white children to feel shame.
Williams denied that she ever said “pedagogy saddles white children with the sins of their ancestors.” History, she said, has never been the topic or focus.
In a hearing on Oct. 28, however, she said an examination of any race would reveal “things that you would be very disturbed to know.”
“But to place that burden on a little white girl, compared to another person of another ethnic or racial background, is wrong,” she said. “And she should not feel shame or guilt for something that she cannot control — one, her skin color; number two, the past that predated her.”
Myths, McCormick said, shape reality.
“And that’s precisely why I saw no value in discussing critical pedagogy — because it feels like the same old mythmaking and fear mongering that frankly we need to dispose of,” McCormick said. “Here’s the truth: Race was an organizing principle in the formation of this nation. Any racial reckoning requires an understanding of this fundamental fact.”
Tamara Seylor-James, a parent in the Blue Valley School District, says she can draw a line between supporters of critical race theory and elements of student curriculum used in the district. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)
Smith defended his district’s use of diversity training for staff as an effort to “relentlessly create a fully unified, equitable and inclusive culture.”
