State Board of Education to vote on resolution about discrimination

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The Alabama State Department of Education will vote on a resolution concerning teaching anything that promotes uplifting one race over another. The board first discussed this up last month, following the murder of George Floyd caused some people to question how non-discrimination topics were taught in K-12 schools.

The board wants to make it clear that they will not be voting on whether or not to teach Critical Race Theory, but to adopt a resolution concerning teaching anything that promotes uplifting one race or gender over another.

District 8 board representative Dr. Wayne Reynolds said he can’t imagine why people would want anything other than equality taught.

“I don’t think any person regardless of their race of gender should be taught that they were inferior or superior to anyone else,” Reynolds said.

The ALSDE said their position on this topic is:

1. There are no public schools that teach, or have taught, critical race theory (CRT) as part of the courses of study adopted by the Alabama State Board of Education.
2. By law, the Alabama State Board of Education is the entity responsible for adopting all courses of study taught in Alabama schools – not the Federal Government.
3. The Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) does not support any ideology that promotes one race or gender over the other or that may cause division based on race or gender.
4. The current course of study for history and civics is inclusive to all Alabamians. A recent study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute recently ranked Alabama Exemplary (A-) for history and civics.
   1. For Civics, the study stated, “Alabama’s civics standards are excellent overall, and they deserve special praise for the repeated messages that facts are important, history contains lessons for today, and the goal of civics is to produce informed citizens who will do their part to help our country realize its founding ideals.”
   2. For U.S. History, the study stated, “Alabama’s U.S. History standards provide a rigorous and thorough overview of American history across all grade levels (K–12). Skills essential to the analysis of historical content are also well developed, and presentation is unusually clear and user-friendly.”

The board meeting is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Gordon Persons building.

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