Tyranny of the Very Loud
How Conservatives are Using Vigilante Groups to Silence Teachers and Push Vouchers
Peter Greene has a column in Forbes about task forces around the country seeking to root out Marxist indoctrination in public schools. The real goal, as always, is the privatization of a public good. In this iteration of the game, however, conservative legislatures have empowered citizen activists to call out any whiff of socialism or liberalism in the schools. These reports are then adjudicated and can have significant, negative consequences. In one case in Tennessee, a teacher lost his job due to his willingness to talk and teach about systemic racism.
Here’s more from Greene on how this is playing out in the states:
In April, Idaho’s Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin set up a task force “to examine indoctrination in Idaho education based on critical race theory, socialism, communism, and Marxism.” After soliciting tips online, the task force held a four hour hearing in August. After hearing testimony “split on whether indoctrination is a problem in public schools,” the task force then unveiled and approved a half-dozen new proposals (one wonders if the folks who had just given testimony then suspected they had been wasting their time).
The Idaho task force proposals included one to make Idaho’s law banning certain teachings more explicitly forbid critical race theory; to ban use of federal grant money for crt-type activities (apparently referencing a Biden administration rule prioritizing culturally responsive teaching); to oppose a diversity policy being considered by the State Board; and to support school choice, favoring education savings accounts, a version of school vouchers.
Note the emphasis there on school vouchers - that’s the ultimate goal. Let’s just be clear: the so-called conservative agenda for public schools is to eliminate them and replace them with a voucher scheme - public money flowing to private entities with minimal accountability.
In fact, Jennifer Berkshire writes about just this outcome in The New Republic:
Starting in 2022, West Virginia parents who withdraw their children from public schools will receive their child’s state share of public education funding—approximately $4,600 in 2021—to spend on virtually any educational cost: private school tuition, online education programs, homeschooling, tutors, even out-of-state boarding schools.
The move in West Virginia came in direct response to a teacher strike there - teachers in the state dared ask for respectable working conditions, adequate resources for students, and fair pay. The legislature was having none of it.
Meanwhile, Greene notes that in North Carolina, an “anti-indoctrination” task force issued a report:
Last March, Lt. Governor Mark Robinson announced the Fairness and Accountability in the Classroom for Teachers and Students (FACTS) task force. The stated goals included holding education officials accountable and providing a means for teachers and parents to report indoctrination where they found it. The task force included three members with ties to the ultra-conservative John Locke Foundation, two conservative GOP lawmakers, the head of the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools, and Baker Mitchell, who owns a group of “classic education” charter schools which he has used to make considerable profit.
While the report didn’t “find” much of anything, the point was made: Teachers should be looking over their shoulders. Any teaching that might be controversial and rankle conservatives could get you written up and reported. Better to keep it quiet and safe and not address systemic racism, the realities of slavery, or horrific events like the Wilmington Massacre.
In Tennessee, a dark money group known as “Moms for Liberty” is rooting out all the indoctrination in a new reading curriculum. To hear them tell the story, Williamson County, TN (one of the wealthiest counties in the country and most Republican in TN) is at the heart of a socialist plot to overtake our schools.
The larger focus of all this activity, though, is to convince parents to demand alternatives to the “Marxist” public schools. This, then, will result in an acceptance of private school vouchers and a large scale dismantling of public education. All of this to say that the disruption and chaos caused by the CRT/Marxism fury is not by accident. Instead, it is designed with one goal in mind: Transfer public funds to private entities for big profits.
It’s become increasingly clear that the ONLY option conservatives offer with any seriousness in the education space is vouchers. Absent choice, they have almost nothing to add to the debate. So, by fomenting discord over faux controversies, these groups now hope to gain a foothold in the policy sphere. That there work is orchestrated and coordinated should not come as a surprise. Very powerful forces have been working for many years to gain access to the public money that supports the public good that is public schools.
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