East Central Reporter

Parents should read between the lines to understand why Democratic legislators are pushing new public school standards, Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) said.

"What they want is to make sure that their ideology and only their ideology is what is taught in schools," Wilhour told the South Central Reporter. "They want to make sure local school districts cannot circumvent their agenda, and they want teachers to not only teach progressivism but to also embrace progressive ideas as their own."

The Effingham Republican legislator's comments are in response to a policy backed by the State Board of Education pending before a legislative committee that would alter education known as the Culturally Responsive plan.

Supporters of the "Culturally Responsive" plan defend it as one that will create a more welcoming overall environment for students.

The new rules 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.

"The far left has taken firm control of the education bureaucracy, and these new rules are an extension of the left's hostile agenda," Wilhour said. "It is really insidious what they are doing."

The 12-member Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) plans to take up the matter for debate on Tuesday, Feb. 16. Wilhour intends to spend the coming days spreading the word about the policy and the dangers he believes it creates.

"Parents need to know what is going on with these new rules and how important this meeting is to the future of this state and really to the country as a whole," he said. "These new rules have made national headlines, and the country is watching what the outcome of this hearing will be. We need folks to get involved and pick-up the phone and urge opposition to these dangerous rules."

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.