[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3901-S3902]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 246--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT CRITICAL 
 RACE THEORY SERVES AS A PREJUDICIAL IDEOLOGICAL TOOL, RATHER THAN AN 
EDUCATIONAL TOOL, AND SHOULD NOT BE TAUGHT IN K-12 CLASSROOMS AS A WAY 
 TO TEACH STUDENTS TO JUDGE INDIVIDUALS BASED ON SEX, RACE, ETHNICITY, 
                           OR NATIONAL ORIGIN

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida (for himself, Mr. Braun, and Mrs. Blackburn) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                              S. Res. 246

       Whereas Critical Race Theory seeks to portray the United 
     States not as a united Nation of people, families, and 
     communities striving for a common purpose, but rather a 
     Nation of many victimized groups based on sex, race, 
     ethnicity, or national origin;
       Whereas Critical Race Theory's teachings stand in contrast 
     to the overarching goal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to 
     prevent discrimination on the basis of race, color, or 
     national origin in the United States;
       Whereas William Jacobson, a Cornell University professor, 
     created criticalrace.org to highlight the over 200 
     universities across the Nation with Critical Race Theory 
     programming;
       Whereas, while present on college and university campuses 
     for decades, Critical Race Theory has increasingly 
     infiltrated our Nation's elementary and secondary school 
     classrooms in recent years;
       Whereas Critical Race Theory serves to resegregate 
     institutions of education and balkanize students into groups 
     by race and ethnicity;
       Whereas efforts to indoctrinate Critical Race Theory into 
     United States school children are designed to eventually 
     transform the United States by stigmatizing its economic 
     system and creating a hatred of all its institutions;
       Whereas Critical Race Theory founder Derrick Bell has 
     stated that ``most critical race theorists are committed to a 
     program of scholarly resistance, and most hope scholarly 
     resistance will lay the groundwork for wide-scale 
     resistance'';
       Whereas Critical Race Theory serves to reinforce the soft 
     bigotry of low expectations by substituting systemic racism 
     as the determining factor in academic achievement gaps rather 
     than the ongoing failure of policymakers and the education 
     system to provide students of color necessary educational 
     opportunities;
       Whereas Critical Race Theory has manifested itself in 
     various damaging ways in United States elementary and 
     secondary schools;
       Whereas the 1619 Project, which puts slavery, not the ideal 
     of equality, at the center of our Nation's storyline and has 
     been widely debunked by historians across the ideological 
     spectrum, is nevertheless being taught in 4,500 classrooms 
     across the country;
       Whereas the California Department of Education (CDE) 
     Foundation, in partnership with over 30 education 
     organizations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 
     developed ``A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction'' toolkit 
     that promotes the concept that White supremacy manifests 
     itself through the focus on finding the right answers, 
     thereby discouraging teachers from requiring students to show 
     their work or consider ways there could be 2 answers to a 
     problem;
       Whereas, in 2017, the Seattle Public School Board directed 
     the Ethnic Studies Task Force to develop an ethnic studies 
     curriculum, which defined ethnic studies as a way to 
     counteract systems of oppression, such as patriarchy and 
     capitalism;
       Whereas the Madison Metropolitan School District is 
     requiring staff to participate in a mandatory 21 hours of 
     professional development that claim practices such as 
     teachers leading a classroom, keeping a class on schedule, 
     and the term ``student'' are a part of White, Western thought 
     and are racist;
       Whereas students at a Las Vegas charter school were 
     required to take a year-long virtual ``Sociology of Change'' 
     course where assignments required students to reveal their 
     race, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities and then 
     determine if oppression or privilege were a part of those 
     identities, allegedly without any accommodations if a student 
     had a conscientious objection to the course;
       Whereas, in October 2020, the San Diego Unified School 
     District Board of Education voted to change ``discriminatory 
     grading practices'' and no longer requires students to turn 
     in their homework on time in order to ``be an anti-racist 
     school district'';
       Whereas, while students should learn how to actively engage 
     in civil society, Critical Race Theory often advocates for 
     ``action civics'', which in some school districts has 
     resulted in students being taught how to engage in disruptive 
     protests without as much concern for teaching the 
     fundamentals of how government works and why;
       Whereas, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center at 
     the University of Pennsylvania, just over half of all 
     individuals in the United States cannot name all 3 branches 
     of Government, and 76 percent of eighth grade students scored 
     at or below proficient in civics on the most recent National 
     Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment;
       Whereas State legislators across the country have 
     introduced bills to prevent schools from teaching that--
       (1) the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist; 
     and
       (2) on account of an individual's race or gender, they may 
     be responsible for actions committed in the past;
       Whereas, on January 19, 2021, the Department of Education's 
     Office for Civil Rights posted a webinar to provide an 
     overview on how racially exclusive practices are prohibited 
     under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 
     2000d et seq.), but the Department of Education has since 
     archived the webinar and labeled it as ``not for reliance''; 
     and
       Whereas, on January 22, 2021, the Department of Education's 
     Office for Civil Rights reportedly suspended a finding that 
     an Illinois school district violated title VI of the Civil 
     Rights Act when it segregated students and staff, directed 
     teachers to treat students differently based on their race, 
     and endorsed racially charged messages: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns racism in all forms and calls on the people of 
     the United States to eliminate racism and defend the civil 
     rights of all individuals, including within our Nation's 
     education system;
       (2) calls on the Department of Education's Office for Civil 
     Rights and State attorneys general to assist schools in being 
     compliant with existing civil rights laws and to investigate 
     and enforce the law when appropriate;
       (3) supports the actions taken by States and communities to 
     implement policies and practices to protect the rights of 
     parents and guardians to know what their children are being 
     taught;
       (4) calls on States and communities to support curriculum 
     transparency policies that make elementary and secondary 
     education curriculum materials accessible, including online, 
     to parents, guardians, and the public for review before the 
     use of such materials;
       (5) recognizes that open enrollment and school choice 
     policies allow students to access the school, and thereby the 
     curriculum, which the parent or guardian believes is best 
     positioned to educate the student;
       (6) condemns State and local educational agencies that 
     facilitate or expend resources on education and professional 
     development exercises that focus on ostracizing 1 individual 
     or group from another;
       (7) condemns the practice of requiring teachers to receive 
     Critical Race Theory education in order to be certified as a 
     teacher; and

[[Page S3902]]

       (8) urges State and local educational agencies to ensure 
     that students are taught civics education to learn--
       (A) the core tenants of the United States Government, the 
     Constitution of the United States, and the rule of law; and
       (B) that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits 
     discrimination by race, color, or national origin.

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