The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and five teachers are now suing over a law prohibiting educators from teaching students about Critical Race Theory.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, names the Tennessee Commissioner of Education and State Board of Education members.
The 2021 law bars K-12 teachers from instructing students that the US is inherently racist or that a person is intrinsically privileged or oppressed due to race.
“There is no group of individuals more passionate and committed to ensuring Tennessee students receive a high-quality education than public school educators,” said Knox County Educator and Tennessee Education Association President Tanya T. Coats in a press release. “This law interferes with Tennessee teachers’ job to provide a fact-based, well-rounded education to their students.”
According to the union’s press release, “The lawsuit calls into question the unconstitutionally vague language of the law and the subjective nature of its enforcement. The law interferes with instruction on difficult but important topics included in the Tennessee State Standards, which were developed and approved by Tennesseans.”
The union claims that the vague nature of the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“Laws need to be clear. The prohibited concepts law conflicts with the state’s own academic standards and curriculum, which creates unfair risks to Tennessee teachers using state approved materials, following state standards, and providing fact-based instruction,” Coats said. “Educators have already spent countless hours trying to understand and navigate the law’s unclear requirements.”
The lawsuit is seeking to have the court issue a permanent injunction against enforcement of the prohibited concepts law and “declare the law unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“Tennessee students will fall behind their peers in other states if this law stays on the books. We are already seeing school leaders make changes to instruction and school activities due to the risk of losing state funding, facing unfair repercussions or threats to their professional standing. TEA is committed to fighting for public school educators’ right to do their job and Tennessee children’s right to a fact-based, well-rounded public education,” Coats said.
The Daily Caller notes, “The Tennessee law prohibits teaching that meritocracy is inherently racist and that an individual should feel “discomfort, guilt [or] anguish” because of another person’s race. It also bans teachers from promoting the violent overthrowing of the U.S. government.”
This lawsuit is just the latest incident of teachers’ unions promoting woke teaching.
Earlier this month, the National Education Association (NEA), America’s largest teachers union, added the controversial books Gender Queer and White Fragility to its “Great Summer Reads for Educators!” list.
The list featured sections including “Books to Celebrate or Understand Juneteenth” and “Banned Books: Celebrate the Freedom to Read!”
Regarding White Fragility, a book that declares all Caucasian people are “racist,” the union wrote that the book “explores why White people are so bad at talking about racism.”
“If you’re a White person who doesn’t know how to talk about Juneteenth—or how to address more fundamental, but sometimes uncomfortable, topics around race and racism—check out Acho’s book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, recommended by the Michigan Education Association’s (MEA) Center for Leadership and Learning,” the union recommended. “(Another title used in MEA’s book studies for union members? White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, which explores why White people are so bad at talking about racism.)”
In September, Columbus City Schools, Ohio’s largest school district, paid $24,200.83 to consultants for a two-day presentation on “Queer and Trans Inclusion,” which instructed teachers on how to hide children’s “gender transitions” from their parents.
During the workshop, educators were expressly instructed to refrain from contacting students’ parents about “gender identity” issues.
