SC ‘critical race theory’ bill ‘undermined’ by proposed changes, says GOP lead sponsor

The lead Republican sponsor of a House proposal that seeks to place new guidelines on how certain topics can be taught to South Carolina students chastised her colleagues’ attempts to amend the bill Wednesday, saying their efforts “undermined” the bill’s intent.

The so-called Transparency and Integrity in Education Act, H. 3728, would prohibit certain concepts, including those considered to be promoting critical race theory, from being taught in South Carolina’s public schools. Critical race theory is a process of examining how institutions and public policies — such as zoning, policing, banking, health care and more — have created or increased inequality.

The proposal also would prohibit public schools from suggesting that by virtue of a student’s race or sex, that student bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, sex, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin. And it would let parents and anyone else, review a school’s curriculum and instructional materials.

“Transparency and integrity in education was carefully drafted legislation,” said state Rep. Raye Felder, R-York, who sponsored the bill, adding it took her nearly two years to draft the proposal in its current form. “After the grandstanding and posturing at the well today, the amendments have undermined the intent of the legislation without any public input or committee discussion. Our teachers deserve better.”

The bill passed the House Wednesday in a 83-34 vote mostly along party lines, after a flurry of amendments and procedural challenges. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain after senators left session last year without tackling a similar measure.

The state Department of Education says critical race theory is not and has never been incorporated in its curriculum, despite some parents and lawmakers arguing that it is being currently taught inside South Carolina classrooms.

Felder, who voted to pass the legislation Wednesday despite her concerns, said in her view the bill provides transparency in public education. Other Republicans shared a similar sentiment.

“In this bill, I encourage you to consider the things that are positive,” said state Rep. Jay West, R-Anderson. “The first thing the bill does is it that it puts education in a place where it has to be a fair and open system with transparency. It’s fair to students, teachers, parents and administrators because it’s transparent.”

But critics and teachers groups say it’s nothing more than an attempt by conservative lawmakers to censor the teaching of Black history and other important historical contexts in public schools.

On Wednesday, Black lawmakers called the bill’s timing insensitive.

“I knew this bill was going to pass, but could you not do it during Black History Month?” said state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland. “This bill was born out of people being uncomfortable with Black history. Personally, I feel that’s a slap in the face.”

Johnson, who is Black, has said he plans to introduce a bill to counter H.3728. His version would prevent instruction about slave owners.

“If we’re going to talk about fact-based history, then tell the truth,” he said. White people, he added, “killed and hung people that looked like me. Is that indoctrination?”

Democrats on Wednesday tried to attach more than 40 amendments onto the bill, almost all of which were killed.

A few Republicans also offered amendments that were unsuccessful, including state Rep. RJ May, R-Lexington, who proposed language giving “any citizen of this state” the ability to file a complaint against violations under the bill as opposed to only school administrators, teachers, students and parents.

State Rep. Annie McDaniel, D-Fairfield, who put up most of those amendments with state Rep. Michael Rivers, D-Beaufort, argued the bill, and all areas related to critical race theory, stems from the 1619 Project, an initiative by the New York Times to bring Black history and slavery to the forefront in America.

Other lawmakers said the new measure will stifle teachers and make them fearful of remaining in the profession, at a time when teacher vacancies are already high across the state.

A record 1,474 teacher and school-based service positions were vacant to start the 2022 school year, a survey of South Carolina’s public school districts found. Vacancies have spiked 39% since last year and 165% over the last three years.

“Soon, we won’t have to worry about telling our teachers what to teach because there won’t be any left if we continue passing legislation like this,” said state Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun.

State Rep. Kambrell Garvin, D-Richland, a former teacher in Walterboro, said he fears the bill will chill a teacher’s ability to have thoughtful conversations.

“I sit on the education committee, and we received hundreds of pages of testimony from educators, who were concerned about the consequences of this bill,” he said.