After much debate, the House has voted 57-12, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed, in favor of HB 377, the new education policy bill. “This bill reaffirms freedom of belief in instruction, speech and association,” Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, told the House.
"Parents are growing increasingly concerned about bias in certain curriculum in their local schools,” Horman said, and she said she fears new federal rules from the U.S. Department of Education will bring about “an extraordinary … and rapidly evolving federal takeover of curriculum in our local public schools.” She cited a recently published rule from the U.S. Department of Education, quoting, “Schools across the country are working to incorporate anti-racist practices into teaching and learning.”
Outgoing state Board of Education President Debbie Critchfield, when asked about the new federal rules at a press conference not long after the House passed the bill, said the federal rules are “fresh information” in the last couple of days, and there’s been no guidance issued to states about them as yet. “I think understanding where we are and what we’re looking at is really critical to this,” she said. “I would emphasize the fact that we have locally elected boards, and that’s the system that we have in Idaho. I know what the federal intrusions are into the state from the state board perspective, and I’ll tell you that local control is alive and well.”
She said, “I believe it is going to be a minimal impact.”
During the House debate, Rep. Ryan Kerby, R-New Plymouth, said, "I think of this bill as a conversation starter in the K-12 system. ... This bill has already got those conversations going, and I believe this will help make our schools a place where our students are more comfortable and the parents are more comfortable sending their students to our schools."
"We need to weigh in," Kerby said. "This bill, I think, says that we very much want inquiry, we want good, solid, balanced discussion on the issues. But we do not want students compelled to affirm, agree and so forth with this issue or any issue, or in any way, shape or form feel ashamed for their God-given sex or race."
Rep. Karey Hanks, R-St. Anthony, said, "My granddaughter went to a school and the rhetoric was so liberal that she couldn't take it any more. It was costly for her parents, as they lost what they had invested."
Rep. Sally Toone, D-Gooding, a longtime educator, said, "Ironically, it was stated that this was just to pass a budget. I'm very concerned about the direction that the Legislature has taken toward education. ... Our schools at all levels are the heart of our communities."
"The problem I have with this bill is it's already in statute," she said. "We don't need it, ultimately. ... I hope this bill makes us feel better that we want to start the conversation, but ultimately as we start that conversation, I don't think it's our job to meddle."
"We need to back our educational system," Toone told the House, "and it's really good. Nothing's perfect. We have kids that get into military academies, we have national merit scholars from Idaho, and they compete. They're critical thinkers."
Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, who chairs the House Education Committee, said, "It was ... said along the line that this will help us move our education budgets along. Maybe people don't think that's important, but I do. And I know that the majority party is the one that's had the division over that."
"I'll tell you something, we have the greatest teachers in America," he said. "They may not be paid the highest wage, but they turn out a really good product. And we're all proud of our kids that are going on to universities, we're proud of our teachers." However, he said some "drift." "People say, 'Why should we change the law because of a few bad apples?" Clow pointed to the same new federal education rule Horman cited. "There are things happening, and maybe it's not going on in our schools, but the federal government says 'you need to start doing some of these things,' and we feel uncomfortable," Clow said.
Rep. Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, said, "As an educator, I will tell you that the pendulum just swings back and forth in education. ... Everyone wants to do what is right and what is good, and it requires a common vocabulary, a common understanding of what is it that we mean. And I agree that this legislation will allow those conversations to begin."
She said, "I think a lot of educators will be listening to that, and feel validated that they have nothing to fear. ... If it's even happening to one, it's one too many, no matter what side of this you're on."
Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said, "This bill needed to be passed years ago. This has been creeping throughout our schools forever." She cited stories she said were passed on to her by a substitute teacher, including the way the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" was presented. "She said the message was made clear white people are bad, Black people are innocent victims, and the students are being encouraged to believe that there's an endless era of Black victimization. ... The longer we wait, the more our kids are indoctrinated with this garbage."
Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, said, "I don't think there is a single person in this building that is against dignity and non-discrimination in public education." But he said he believes it has "fatal flaws," opening the door for teacher intimidation, lawsuits, and "defunding education."
"When you don't have definitions, and what you have is an endless series of anecdotes, hearsay, conjecture, innuendo, emails, social media, robo-calls, guilt by association arguments that we've heard on and on not just today but throughout this session, what this bill winds up doing in practical terms is intimidation," he said. "For sure, there are people who will use this bill to intimidate teachers, school administrators, school boards, to make sure that they don't do anything that might in any way be considered controversial."
Rep. John McCrostie, D-Garden City, a teacher, said, "I have a real problem believing that this is a real problem in Idaho classrooms." He said hundreds of teachers have told him they didn't know what "critical race theory" was until they googled it. "If you don't know what it is, you can't teach it. ... Those that did google it know that they're not teaching it in their classrooms," he said. "I believe that the role of education in our society is to prepare our young people to enter the real world prepared to think critically, and to make important decisions as members of our community."
McCrostie said, "I want to say something to you all in this body, something that I'm not going to be teaching in my classroom, but it is a concept that I am going to be practicing on how I treat my students. The goal is not that I see no color. The goal is that I see your color and I honor you, that I value your input. That I will be educated by your lived experiences, and I will work against racism that harms you. You're beautiful and however I can do better, please let me know."
McCrostie said he's concerned about debating "critical race theory" without anyone knowing what it is. He noted that a professor who studied and taught critical race theory told the House Education Committee this morning, "'Critical race theory is the lens through which to critique, through reason and logic. It is explicitly anti-racist and anti-white supremacist, and it does not divide white people from people of color.' I felt like those were very valuable insights," he said. "I'm not an expert on critical race theory. But I do want to protect all of the students in my classroom."
Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, said, "Critical race theory is not just a teaching, it is a verb, it is activating, it is indoctrinating." If there's no problem in Idaho, he said, "Then there's no problem passing this bill."
To become law, HB 377 still would need to clear a Senate committee, pass the full Senate, and receive the governor's signature.
