HB 322 & 327 are Attacks on Honesty in Education
As educators, school counselors, paraprofessionals, and school support staff, part of our job is ensuring that all of our students — no matter their color, background, or zip code — receive a quality public education rooted in an honest and comprehensive curriculum.
Our ability to do our job is under increasing attack from out of touch politicians and pundits who have no understanding of what is and is not happening in our schools yet seek to sow division and discord.
Take action today and tell your legislators to oppose House Bills 322 and 327, which would create an environment of fear in our schools, preventing Ohio students from receiving an honest and accurate education.
You may have noticed these attacks against honesty in education. Rooted in scare tactics and lies about “critical race theory,” these attacks are being waged by ideological culture warriors like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Heritage Foundation. This is the latest tactic in their long campaign to delegitimize, defund, and privatize local public schools. And now they’ve convinced Ohio legislators to take action on a non-existent problem.
HB 322 and HB 327 are dangerous bills that are part of an orchestrated national effort. Similar bills in at least seven states have already banned discussing or teaching concepts about racism and sexism in the U.S., as well as any discussions about conscious and unconscious bias, privilege, discrimination, and oppression.
These bills are worded to seem innocuous and mostly “ban” things that are not, and never would be, taking place in schools. However, some vague and expansive language in the bills will prevent school districts from advancing equity and diversity policies within their schools and may lead to a narrower curriculum that steers clear of controversial but important topics like slavery, the civil rights movement, treatment of Indigenous Americans, and the wartime internment of Japanese Americans.
As educators, we must take action against these false attacks and we must demand that our schools have a curriculum that is shaped by educators, not politicians.
