Getting critical race theory out of public schools is harder than passing a law

Banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory and its tenets in public schools may not be as easy as passing a law. Idaho was the first of nine states to pass an anti-CRT law and so far this new school year, some parents don’t see any change.

Idaho’s law does not explicitly ban teachers from bringing up Critical Race Theory, privilege, systemic racism, or white supremacy. It just says students can’t be compelled to personally affirm some of the tenets of CRT. One clear example, the law makes it illegal for teachers to force students to do an exercise in which they have to identify their level of privilege based on their race, gender or religion. 

For the National School Boards Association, CRT is a non-issue. According to the NSBA’s spokesperson Jason Amos, "Critical Race Theory is not taught in K-12 public schools. Any time spent discussing Critical Race Theory—a discussion better suited for law school or graduate school—is time taken away from the real issues that are truly critical for the education of our nation’s students."