As the debate over critical race theory and schools reaches a fever pitch, the two national teachers鈥� unions are entering the fray, vowing to defend their members against any backlash over how they teach about the nation鈥檚 complicated history with race and racism.
Both unions have presented a single underlying message: Teachers must be honest about racial injustices so that students learn to think critically about how the country鈥檚 problematic past has shaped its present. Any efforts to restrict those conversations in the classroom, the unions say, are akin to censorship.
鈥淭he backlash [to teaching about race] that you see in these radicalized circles is going to hurt kids,鈥� said American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in an interview. 鈥淚 felt the need to make it crystal clear to teachers ... that I honor their professional responsibilities and that their union will have their back.鈥�
Already, 26 states have introduced bills or taken other steps to limit how teachers can discuss racism in the classroom, and nine states have enacted restrictions. Many right-leaning policymakers have said they鈥檙e trying to keep critical race theory, referring to an academic philosophy that says racism is embedded in legal systems and policies, out of K-12 schools. Critical race theory, which emerged out of a framework for legal analysis more than 40 years ago, has become highly politicized, and experts say that any efforts by the unions to support its use in the classroom will be met by attacks from conservative groups.
Weingarten has already taken steps to distance her union from the divisive rhetoric, telling her members Tuesday that critical race theory isn鈥檛 taught in K-12 schools, but that 鈥渃ulture warriors are labeling any discussion of race, racism, or discrimination as CRT to try to make it toxic.鈥�
National Education Association President Becky Pringle has avoided using the term critical race theory in interviews, instead calling for educators to teach the truth about the most painful parts of American history. But at the NEA鈥檚 representative assembly, held virtually last week, union delegates passed several measures that explicitly support the use of critical race theory in curriculum and allocated tens of thousands of dollars to those efforts.
One such measure, introduced by the NEA鈥檚 board of directors, said the nation鈥檚 largest teachers鈥� union will support and lead campaigns that 鈥渞esult in increasing the implementation of culturally responsive education, critical race theory, and ethnic 鈥� studies curriculum in pre-K-12 and higher education.鈥� The measure is part of a larger $675,000 effort to 鈥渆radicate institutional racism鈥� in public schools.
NEA delegates also adopted a $56,500 measure to 鈥渞esearch the organizations attacking educators doing anti-racist work鈥� so that members are prepared to respond. The conservative Heritage Foundation, which was named in that measure, is a Marxist idea that 鈥渢he world is divided between victimizers and their victims鈥攕tatuses that are based mostly on race and ethnicity, but other immutable characteristics as well.鈥�
鈥淒o hard-working teachers really want their union dues empowering a political attack machine that wants to scare parents and others, including teachers themselves, who have real concerns about teaching that America is inherently racist or stereotyping students based on their skin color?鈥� Lindsey Burke, the director of Heritage鈥檚 center for education policy, and Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow in Heritage鈥檚 center for foreign policy, said in a statement.
Bradley Marianno, a professor of educational policy and higher education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said messages like that feed into the broader conservative push to encourage teachers to leave their unions. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that teachers who were not union members didn鈥檛 have to contribute to collective bargaining costs, it鈥檚 been easier than ever for teachers to cut ties with their unions.
Now, Marianno said, conservative groups can point to messaging from the unions about critical race theory and suggest that any teachers who disagree simply opt out of paying union dues. A recent EdWeek Research Center survey found that nearly a quarter of teachers, principals, and district leaders do not believe systemic racism exists, and a third of respondents support legislative efforts to restrict classroom discussions on racism and other controversial issues.
Unions are preparing for legal fights
The national unions are now starting to organize their legal response to protect educators who might be punished for how they discuss racism with their students.
Some of the state laws specify consequences for teachers who break them: New Hampshire says that anybody, including the attorney general, can sue a school or district for on how teachers can discuss race, gender, and other identity characteristics in the classroom. Also, a teacher who is found to have violated the law could receive a disciplinary sanction by the state board of education. (An Arizona bill would have gone one step further and for promoting only one side of a controversial issue, but that bill failed to pass the state senate.)
鈥淢ark my words: Our union will defend any member who gets in trouble for teaching honest history,鈥� Weingarten said in a speech Tuesday. 鈥淭eaching the truth is not radical or wrong. Distorting history and threatening educators for telling the truth is what is truly radical and wrong.鈥�
In an interview, Weingarten said some of the laws are so broad that they undermine the required state standards for instruction. The union plans to seek some clarification there, possibly in court. AFT has also put additional resources in its legal defense fund.
鈥淭here are constitutional scholars that are looking at these laws,鈥� Weingarten said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to make sure that teachers can teach the constitution.鈥�
Daniel Santos, the executive vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of AFT, said he applauds Weingarten鈥檚 decision to set up a legal fund to protect teachers. Texas that requires teachers to give contending perspectives for controversial issues and says teachers must not say that slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from the authentic founding principles of the United States.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 irresponsible for me, as a teacher, to comply with that law,鈥� said Santos, who teaches Texas and U.S. history at Yolanda Black Navarro Middle School in Houston. 鈥淚 do suspect that we may have to use that fund because teachers have already made that commitment.鈥�
Pringle said in an interview that the NEA is analyzing the laws that have passed to fully understand their 鈥渄epth and breadth鈥� before pursuing any possible litigation.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just going to leave every avenue open,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will defend our educators鈥� right to teach the truth.鈥�
鈥業 felt like the bullies were winning鈥�
Kumar Rashad, a high school math teacher in Louisville, Ky., and an NEA delegate, said he wished his national union had taken a stronger stance against the efforts to restrict classroom discussions of racism earlier on. States began introducing legislation on classroom discussions about racism as early as February and March.
Even so, he was pleased with the action taken at the representative assembly, including the passage of his own $127,600 measure, which will have the NEA publicize information on critical race theory鈥攊ncluding 鈥渨hat it is and what it is not鈥濃�攁nd convey that it is 鈥渞easonable and appropriate鈥� for curriculum to be informed by that academic framework.
鈥淭his is a giant step forward,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is standing up against the bullies, and we needed to do that because I felt like the bullies were winning.鈥�
Much of the teachers鈥� unions鈥� role in this debate thus far has been at the state and local level, where the action against critical race theory is, Marianno said.
Officials from local and state teachers鈥� unions have testified against bills to place restrictions on what teachers can say in the classroom and have participated in similar discussions at school boards. For example, the Texas branch of the AFT 鈥渇ought hard鈥� against the bill on social studies curriculum, Santos said, but its passage was 鈥渋nevitable,鈥� given the Republican majority in the statehouse.
鈥淲hat the NEA has done [with the approved measures] is given locals an avenue to pursue a more forceful response in these conversations around the teaching of critical race theory,鈥� Marianno said. 鈥淭hey may open up some funds to state affiliates to pursue litigation, but largely they鈥檙e just setting the direction and leaving it up to the local and state affiliates to really pursue action.鈥�
Pringle of the NEA said this fight over how to teach history is simply the latest attempt by conservatives to sow division and to distract from the fact that state legislatures have not equitably funded schools.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been fighting that for certainly as long as I have been a leader within NEA,鈥� she said in an interview. 鈥淎nd every time they attempt to bring up some other way to divide us, and to stoke fear and to take [away] that light shining on them and what their failures have been, we will be there to call it out, to speak up, and to fight back.鈥�
