East Central Reporter

A downstate lawmaker is leaving no doubt in expressing how he feels about the “Culturally Responsive” school standards proposal embraced by the State Board of Education.

“This is a violation of people’s First Amendment Constitutional rights,” Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) told the East Central Reporter. “It is not the job of educators to ensure that students become the next generation of far-left radicals.”

The Culturally Responsive proposal is designed to create a more welcoming educational environment for students to express their views and implements additional standards for teachers.

The regulation would also lead to such changes as teachers having to assess “how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.),” The Center Square reported.

Halbrook said the proposed changes open the door to more partisan rule and are about Democrats in Springfield advancing their political agenda.

“What is happening here is wrong,” Halbrook said, who was reelected to a fifth term in November. “Put simply, these new mandates amount to indoctrination, not education.”

Halbrook intends to keep a close watch on Springfield this month when the 12-member Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) plans to take up the matter for debate on Feb. 16.

Several GOP lawmakers have indicated they plan to spend the coming days informing as many parents about the measure as they can in hopes that they will join forces in making their disapproval known to lawmakers in mass.

 At least eight JCAR members would have to support a motion to block the proposal to prevent it from taking effect roughly eight months from now in October.