FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – The Kentucky Senate passed a bill Thursday aimed at incorporating a series of historical documents and speeches into the classroom work of Kentucky students – a response to the national debate over critical race theory.
The Republican-backed measure delving into civics instruction sparked a long debate before clearing the chamber on a 28-8 vote, which sent the proposal to the GOP-dominated House.
Senate supporters said the two dozen historical documents and speeches listed in the measure would offer a strong foundation for social studies work by middle and high school students.
Democrats opposed the bill and their objections included concerns that it amounts to a state overreach into curriculum decisions that they said should be left up to local school districts.
The legislation allows teachers to conduct lessons on historical events while requiring that lessons remain consistent with a set of American principles.
Republican Sen. Max Wise, the bill’s lead sponsor, said it offers a “guide” for school work based on a “more positive set of American principles.” But it preserves classroom discussions on controversial parts of history, including “the historical oppression of particular groups of people,” he said.
“Nothing in this bill … removes talking about or teaching about atrocities of historical events,” Wise said. “Those events should be discussed. Those events show how far our country has come. … It’s shown how much we must continue to learn and advance from our past events.”
Democratic Sen. Reggie Thomas responded that the bill would strip away local control by setting a statewide curriculum that “really teaches ideology.” He added that the measure is unnecessary.
“This whole idea of critical race theory is a boogeyman, because we don’t teach this in public schools,” Thomas said.
Critical race theory is an academic framework that examines how racism has shaped public policy and institutions such as the legal system, and how those have perpetuated the dominance of white people in society. Multiple GOP-led states have banned or limited the teaching of critical race theory or similar concepts through laws or administrative actions.
Pointing to national tensions surrounding the issue, Wise said Thursday that he introduced the bill “in an attempt to unify us.” But the bill continued to generate pushback from its critics.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey, the top-ranking Senate Democrat, said it would set a “dangerous precedent” by dictating curriculum onto districts. He said it could have a “chilling effect” on what’s taught.
“Does this mean that next year when we say there was an insurrection in our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, that for the people denying it we can’t say it happened?” he asked.
Wise said the bill would preserve the ability of teachers to “teach current events on controversial subjects and to help students draw their own informed conclusions.”
Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel said the bill isn’t an overreach by the state.
“We do our best to delegate as much as possible to our local school districts,” he said. “But when we send over 40% of the commonwealth’s tax dollars into a system, …. we have every right to be involved in these decisions when the citizens so demand it.”
The bill calls for two dozen “fundamental American documents and speeches” to be incorporated into social studies standards in middle and high schools. Documents would include the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Monroe Doctrine.
“Since when did learning about these things become controversial?” GOP Sen. Stephen West said.
The bill also lists speeches by Abraham Lincoln, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ronald Reagan. Supporters stressed that the bill doesn’t limit classroom work to those documents and speeches.
Thomas said the content included in the bill should spark broader classroom discussions. The measure lists King’s stirring “I Have a Dream” speech. Not long after that speech, a bomb planted by Ku Klux Klansmen went off in a Birmingham, Alabama, church, killing four Black girls, he noted.
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The legislation is Senate Bill 138.