Key Takeaways
- In Johnston County, the all-Republican Board of Commissioners told the school board in June they would withhold $7.9 million in new school funding until a policy banning Critical Race Theory was approved.
- The Johnston County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted on Monday to turn over $7.9 million in school funding it had previously withheld until the school board passed a policy preventing what it called Critical Race Theory from being taught.
- Fights over Critical Race Theory and school masking have dominated school board meetings in North Carolina and nationally. Critics of masking and Critical Race Theory have held multiple rallies outside Johnston County school board meetings, including one in September led by U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn from Western North Carolina.
“The Johnston County Board of Commissioners and the Johnston County Board of Education are attempting to stroke fears, divide parents and communities, and discredit Johnston County’s hard-working teachers, yet all they are doing is hurting our children,” said NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly.
Teachers are trained professionals and practitioners who know how best to design age-appropriate lessons for students, help them grapple with complex facts, and teach them to be critical thinkers and lifelong learners.
Our students deserve honesty in education, rooted in facts and truth. Loving America and what it stands for means learning about our history, both good and bad. If we censor our history and ignore today’s challenges, we will never live up to our ideals of liberty and justice for all.
This manufactured outrage to score political points by creating a problem that does not exist will hurt our children and diminish the quality of their education. For the sake of our students and the future of this state, this must stop.”
NCAE is the state’s largest education advocacy organization for public school employees and represents active, retired, and student members.
