One of the bills, HR 1532, states that its goal is “curtailing the divisive nature of concepts more commonly known as ‘critical race theory.’”
A second bill prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. That bill appears to mirror the legislation signed into law in Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Responding to the Republican-led legislation, the board of directors for Pittsburgh Public Schools unanimously passed a resolution in late November vowed to ignore what it calls “harmful legislation” proposed by the state lawmakers, Fox News reported.
Regarding the anti-CRT bill, the resolution claims the legislation “prohibits our educators from accurately teaching history, improperly bans anti-bias training, and would make culturally relevant teaching nearly impossible.”
White students minority in PPS
The school board’s decision to defend Critical Race Theory in its resolution is an interesting choice, since many left-wing school districts – once outed by a teacher or a parent – have denied any race-based teaching is happening in the classrooms.
Pittsburgh Public Schools went with a second tactic: Claiming the anti-white lessons are “history” lessons. Those types of lessons would logically include teaching slavery before the U.S. Civil War and Jim Crow laws in the Deep South. In reality, the Marxist-based theory is teaching white students they are modern-day oppressors who are succeeding in life because a white-dominated society is maintaining a power structure that harms minorities.
The resolution’s reference to “anti-bias training” is the tell-tale sign students in Pittsburgh Public Schools are learning about topics such as “white privilege” and “equity” in an urban school district where blacks are the majority of students at 53%. Combined with other minority races, PPS is comprised of 67% minorities. White students include the other 33%.
Yet the school district is currently following a program called “On Track to Equity” to “reduce racial disparities” and “elevate the achievement levels of African American students.”
"Antiracism requires a commitment to lifelong learning," a portion of the website, referring to white staff and students, states.
The "On Track" plan dates all the way back to a 2006 agreement, now 16 years old, that included 94 "action steps" to create an "equitable environment" for black students.
Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania tells AFA the school board’s resolution amounts to feel-good grandstanding because the bills will likely never become law. That is because voters just elected a Democrat, Josh Shapiro, as governor.
"To me, it's just an effort on their part,” she says of the school district officials, “to make a public statement that they oppose this legislation, and that they oppose any legislation that would ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory."
