Education

Oklahoma Gov Launches Investigation Into School District Allegedly Teaching CRT

(Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Reagan Reese Contributor
Font Size:

Oklahoma’s largest school district is under investigation for allegedly violating the state’s Critical Race Theory ban, the state’s governor announced Thursday.

Oklahoma banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory in May 2021, prohibiting discrimination through the teaching that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another.” Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt vowed to “get to the bottom” of what is happening in Tulsa Public Schools and announced he was opening an investigation into alleged critical race theory lessons being taught in the district. (RELATED: Here’s The New Left-Wing Theory Parents Are Fighting In Schools)

“We’ve got allegations and reasons to believe that they hired a Critical Race Theory kind of instructor and were violating state law. We want to make sure that we hold people accountable,” Stitt told the DCNF. “The will of the Oklahoma people is to teach kids not indoctrinate them. We want the auditor to check into that and see if those allegations were true.”

Though it’s not clear which incident is the subject of the investigation, a possible violation by the school district was first brought up at a June School Board of Education meeting, according to Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. The staff training occurred in 2021 and allegedly violated the state’s Critical Race Theory ban, according to the governor’s announcement.

The training session was titled “Changing Discourse” and put on by the National Equity Project, which aims to transform “the experiences, outcomes, and life options for children and families who have been historically underserved by our institutions and systems”, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs reported.

The National Equity Project website also includes wording such as saying its mission is to “acknowledge and make meaning of the historical and ongoing impacts of racism and white supremacy,” according to its website. Tulsa Public Schools is listed on the National Equity Project’s list of clients.

Tulsa Public Schools told the Daily Caller News Foundation they were made aware of a complaint about a professional development training from March 2022 by the Oklahoma Department of Education regarding a “race and ethnic education” training by Vector Solutions, a national group that has seminars to “create safer and more inclusive schools for students and staff”.

“We do not know what the Governor is referring to in his video. We have not had an official parent complaint this school year,” Tulsa Public Schools said in a statement to the DCNF.

In May, the teachers union Oklahoma Education Association proposed an addition to the state’s ban, suggesting schools were violating the ban and teaching critical race theory, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs reported.

In the same Twitter announcement, Stitt also requested a special audit of Tulsa Public Schools for the mishandling of public funds.

The National Equity Project and Vector Solutions did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.