Republican state lawmakers in Wisconsin are circulating three proposals that would prohibit public schools and state agencies from offering teaching or training using “anti-racist” and “anti-sexist” concepts that have become associated with critical race theory.
The lawmakers sent the proposals, each of which “prohibits race and sex stereotyping” in curricula and training at the respective institutions, to fellow lawmakers on Thursday in search of co-sponsors, though the legislation has not yet been introduced. Though none of the proposals mentions critical race theory, a philosophy that suggests in part that some institutions are fundamentally racist, each prohibits the teaching of concepts that would promote stereotyping of individuals on the basis of race or sex.
“We are introducing this legislation at the request of the hundreds of parents who have talked to us in our districts about the growing concern of the materials being taught to their children in their primary and secondary schools,” Rep. Chuck Wichgers and Sen. Andre Jacque, who co-sponsored one of the proposals, wrote in a memo to fellow lawmakers reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
HERE’S WHERE CRITICAL RACE THEORY STANDS IN CLASSROOMS AND TRAINING ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The two added their assessment that some critical race theory and other adjacent concepts are being used “to redress the injustice of racism and sexism by employing racism and sexism, as well as promoting psychological distress in students based on these immutable characteristics.”
Wichgers’s and Jacque’s measure would prohibit public and charter schools from teaching students a number of such concepts, including that one race or sex is inherently superior to another and that members of a particular race or sex are responsible for the past actions of other individuals of the same race or sex.
The bill also requires each school board to post curricula online, directs the state superintendent of public instruction to withhold 10% of state aid from any district that violates the ban on those concepts, and gives parents the ability to bring legal claims against school operators for violations.
Another bill sponsored by Jacque and Rep. Rick Gundrum would establish the same ban on the teaching of the same concepts within the state’s University of Wisconsin System and the Technical College System with similar provisions for the withholding of noncompliant institutions.
A third measure, proposed by Jacque and Rep. Gae Magnafici, “prohibits sex and race stereotyping in training provided to employees of local and state government.” It would bar the same concepts as the aforementioned measures, applying the prohibition to state agency employee training.
The bill also directs the state’s departments of revenue and administration to reduce any agency’s shared revenue payment by 10% or funding for all positions at the agency for the following year if it doesn’t comply.
Democrats have criticized the legislation, saying it misrepresents critical race theory.
“They are trying to bastardize this and frame it in a way that changes what critical race theory is,” Democratic state Rep. Lakeshia Myers said in response to the measures. “It’s ridiculous. They don’t even understand what critical race theory is.”
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The deadline for lawmakers to co-sponsor the bills is Monday, after which the bills can be introduced in the legislature.
Wisconsin joins at least 18 other states that have either banned, restricted, or countered critical race theory or its associated concepts or considered measures to do so.
