Editor's note: This article appeared as a blog on the Oregonians for Liberty in Education site and is reprinted here, with permission.

On July 19th, 2021 Governor Kate Brown signed into law HB 2166. This bill is the fruit of Gov. Brown’s Racial Justice Council, an organization set up last year for the purpose of providing the governor with policy recommendations that “center racial justice.” In line with that goal, the new law makes sweeping changes to the educational standards of the state of Oregon.

The most drastic change is the creation of a new K-12 education standard and framework called "Social Emotional Learning.” The intention is made clear saying that the “...social emotional learning should be incorporated into all academic content standards as part of an integrated model of mental and emotional health, with the explicit goal being to promote antiracism and educational equity and to create conditions for all students to thrive...” The bill further reveals itself in multiple places with the use of language such as “antibias,” “institutional racism,” and “positive racial identity development.”

Far from being common and agreed upon language this is rhetoric associated with the new and controversial Critical Race Theory. CRT views all American institutions from a racial identity perspective and encourages class struggle from that basis. The Social Emotional Learning framework makes Critical Race Theory the law of the land in Oregon, making public school students as young as Kindergarten to see the world through the lens of race.

The bill also adds a mechanism to force this on children outside of the public school system. The “Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program,” primarily provides educational resources for early childhood educators on how to incorporate the ideals of Critical Race Theory into their curriculum. This includes everything from information on how to encourage “positive racial identity development” to what it means to have “antibias practices.”

However, it does not stop at merely providing voluntary resources for educators, it makes the use of those resources mandatory for licensure in Oregon. Any early childhood care and education programs “certified or registered” in the state of Oregon must request services from the Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program when a young child is facing potential expulsion. Under this bill, early childhood educators and providers are no longer able to exercise their own professional judgment in matters of discipline, but are subject to the oversight of a centralized and racially motivated government body.

Moreover, Oregon is putting its money where its mouth is by providing educational grants on the basis of their own racially charged world view. HB 2166 establishes a grant program for Public Charter Schools that requires 65% of the student body be either “disabled” or “racial or ethnic groups that have historically experienced academic disparities.”

This bill is a drastic departure from the educational standards of the state of Oregon and the historical values of fairness and equality guaranteed by the Civil Right Act and the Constitution. It ends the debate on Critical Race Theory by cutting off the voices of local school boards, parents, and educators, in favor of biased sense of morality from the governor’s office.


--Oregonians for Liberty in Education Staff

Post Date: 2021-08-16 10:23:11

Last Update: 2021-08-16 10:38:45