Watchdog says Texas schools ‘some of worst in country’ in teaching critical race theory

(The Daily Signal) – Public schools in Texas continue to teach racially discriminatory content to children in violation of state law and without parents knowing, Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal.

“What we’ve found in Texas is almost worse than anywhere else in the country,” Guillette said, referring to how entrenched this racial content is. 

“The only solution is universal school choice,” he told The Daily Signal later in the interview.

Accuracy in Media, an investigative media watchdog, is in the process of releasing videos from its undercover investigations, which found public school administrators in Texas boasting about hiding instruction in critical race theory and racial equity from parents.

“All over Texas, administrators are pushing critical race theory into every facet of public education,” Guillette said in the interview Wednesday.

Critical race theory, also called CRT, is a sociological theory that suggests every individual and collective action is driven by race, assigning historically negative outcomes of any kind to the oppression of white supremacy. Applying critical race theory includes rewriting history to bolster claims of victimization by white supremacy, such as in The New York Times’ 1619 Project.

Accuracy in Media’s most recent investigations in the Texas cities of San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi showcase public school administrators who admit to teaching critical race theory despite a state ban in 2021 at the insistence of Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican. 

An undercover reporter for Accuracy in Media asked Marissa Perez, a content coordinator for English, language arts, and reading in Edgewood Independent School District, how the new ban on critical race theory affected her school.

“We do not follow much of, like, what Abbott is trying to get us to do,” Perez replied. 

“The superintendent really does what he believes is best for kids,” she said, referring to the interpretation of state curriculum requirements.

In the past decade, trying to hide segregationist “equity” curriculum from parents has become a significant trend among public school administrators even in red states or conservative areas.

Administrators often make these decisions because they believe they’re taking a moral and even “religious” stand in spite of what parents want for their children, Guillette told The Daily Signal. 

“As we heard again in Fort Worth, they tell [our undercover reporter] that they can close the door and ‘do what’s right,’” he said, referring to administrators in another Texas district.

Accuracy in Media has released several reports over the past two years in which school administrators admit they break state laws forbidding divisive and segregationist content such as critical race theory and the 1619 Project.

One series of undercover videos in Indiana resulted in the firing of three public school administrators and a healthy dose of damage control in those three districts.

When I was science coordinator for Indianapolis Public Schools, my superiors explicitly told me to inform parents and teachers that our district didn’t use critical race theory—we just focused on “racial equity.” As soon as the doors were closed, though, my colleagues would cackle over parents’ naivete as our school district hosted a critical race theory scholar, Gloria Ladson-Billings, who praised their deception.

School administrators’ determination to do what they want behind closed doors isn’t fading away as states pass bans on critical race theory, either. Accuracy in Media’s latest undercover interview series from schools in Corpus Christi confirm that some administrators aren’t ready to comply with Texas law.

Karen Mircovich, director of instructional programs at Ingleside Independent School District, told Accuracy in Media’s undercover reporter that their “power” allowed administrators to bend or break state law.

“We have a lot of power because of where we are,” Mircovich told the reporter, going on to say administrators are “very open” to teaching racial equity and will “support teachers” who do so.

The reporter from Accuracy in Media sought clarification, asking, “You’re confident that your teachers would close the door and teach what’s right? Regardless of what the new laws [say]?”

“Right,” Mirchovich responded.

Jodi Ferguson, curriculum director for Calallen Independent School District, told Accuracy inMedia’s undercover reporter that the district doesn’t explicitly use terms such as “1619 Project.” 

But, she said, “some of the concepts” and “the way we’re teaching” incorporate the 1619 Project and the ideology of racial equity rather than equality.  

The Daily Signal sought comment from Ferguson, Mircovich, and Perez, but received no response by publication time.

Guillette told The Daily Signal that these interviews and dozens like them suggest that states’ “anti-CRT” laws are “worse than worthless.” 

“They provide a false sense of security to parents in Texas,” Guillette said. “Legislators are just passing laws to virtue-signal and placate concerned parents. The only solution is universal school choice.”

Abbott called a special legislative session, which began Oct. 9, to pass school choice legislation that the governor said would help Texas families.

“Empowering parents means giving them the choice to send their children to any public school, charter school, or private school with state funding following the student,” Abbott said, adding that school choice “is going to give all Texas children a better chance to succeed.”

Guillette told The Daily Signal that Accuracy in Media plans to continue publishing investigations from Texas to expose conservative areas as rife with racial equity ideology in K-12 schools. 

“Most Texans assume, ‘This junk is in Austin, but not here,’” Guillette said, yet that’s not so. 

“The reddest areas are the worst,” he said. “San Antonio, an Air Force town, has some of the worst deceit I’ve ever seen.”

Many school districts in Texas have dedicated staff positions for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, to incorporate racial equity into curriculum and instruction. 

Guillette told The Daily Signal that Fort Worth public schools have 12 positions designated as DEI staff, and it isn’t uncommon to see such staff making $250,000 annually. The goal isn’t to fire these staff, he said, but to “eliminate DEI positions, period.” 

“If this is unacceptable on college campuses, why is it acceptable in K-12 education? There’s no reason Texas should be funding this,” Guillette said.

A Texas law passed earlier this year forbids any state-funded university from having DEI offices or engaging in any kind of racial discrimination or promotion.

Accuracy in Media’s additional investigations in Texas public schools will be published at the link CRTinTexas.com, Guillette said.