The elected board of the Chehalis School District has responded to the concerns of parents and passed a resolution banning the teaching of controversial Critical Race Theory in public school classrooms.
The new policy, passed June 15, provides that schools will not teach that some students are inherently good and others are inherently bad based on their outward appearance. Further, district officials declared that political ideology has no place in public schools and that teachers will educate students, not tell them what to think or what opinions to hold.
The Chehalis district comprises eight public schools serving some 3,000 students.
Key provisions of the board’s resolution state:
School leaders in Chehalis, unlike officials in Seattle, Spokane, Bellevue, Highline and other districts, are rightly keeping their focus on academic standards and providing equal access to education excellence for all.
In communities where educating children is no longer the top mission, parents should be allowed access to alternatives, like those proposed in Rep. Vicki Kraft’s bill (HB 1215) to give a fully-funded $7,000 Education Savings Account (ESA) to every family that wants one. Then every child could get a great public education, without the negative impacts caused by harmful race-based indoctrination.
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Liv Finne is the director of the Washington Policy Center’s Center for Education. She can be reached at lfinne@washingtonpolicy.org. Learn more about the Washington Policy Center at https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/.