Palmetto State News

As the nation engages in a lively and bitter debate over Critical Race Theory (CRT) and whether it should have a role in school curriculum, South Carolina GOP lawmakers are circling the wagons in strong opposition by introducing legislation to prevent the teaching of CRT in public schools. 

CRT is a method of teaching that focuses on the role that race has played in American history. Many praise it as a necessary step toward race reconciliation, while others condemn it as inherently racist and hateful. 

In recent months, Democrats and Republicans have largely split down party lines on the issue. GOP legislatures around the country are working to ban CRT from being taught in public schools and other institutions that receive public funding. 

Republicans at all levels of the South Carolina government have spoken out strongly against CRT, including Gov. Henry McMaster.

“It’s certainly not necessary for the education of young people 4-years-old all the way up through high school,” McMaster said at a news conference last week. “When you get to college, you get to take a course on almost anything you want and that’s up to you, but I don’t think it has a place in South Carolina and I don’t think it’s helpful and could be harmful.”

State Superintendent Molly Spearman has also been a vocal critic of CRT.

“The Critical Race Theory ideology has no place in South Carolina schools and classrooms,” Spearman said on Facebook earlier this month. “The South Carolina Department of Education has no current or proposed standards that include CRT concepts and will not be adopting any CRT standards nor applying for or accepting any funding that requires or incentivizes the adoption of these concepts in our classrooms. We will not provide professional development opportunities or training that seeks to promote CRT amongst South Carolina educators.”

House Bill 4325 has been put forth by the state GOP and currently has 19 sponsors. The bill would prevent South Carolina's public institutions from teaching that “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin is inherently superior or inferior,” or that, “individuals, by virtue of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin,” according to the text of the bill.

The effort to exclude CRT from school curriculum around the state has hit a peak this month, although it has been a target for many Republican lawmakers in recent months.