Indiana Teachers Anticipate Mass Exodus From Profession If The State Passes ‘Anti-CRT’ Bill

• Indiana teachers are expecting a mass exodus from the education profession if the state passes a bill that will restrict Critical Race Theory-aligned curriculum, the Indy Star reported.
• House Bill 1134 would prohibit educators from promoting “certain concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum” or requiring “an employee of the school corporation, qualified school, or state educational institution to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of racial or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or political affiliation.”
• “It opens the door for parents to be able to come after you for anything,” another Indiana teacher, Suzanne Holcomb, told the Indy Star. “It’s the last nail in the coffin. I don’t know how we would move forward from this. It would just make teaching impossible.”

Indiana teachers are expecting a mass exodus from the education profession if the state passes a bill that will restrict Critical Race Theory-aligned curriculum, the Indy Star reported.

“I cannot imagine that we’re going to have anything other than a huge exodus of teachers if this legislation goes through,” said Jim Lang, a journalism teacher at Floyd Central High School, the Indy Star reported. “And I think the problem is going to be, you’re not going to have enough people to fill the positions, or some of the folks you’re going to bring in aren’t going to be qualified.”

“I will have to quit, or I will have to ignore it,” Lang said, the Indy Star reported. “I will not comply. I can’t. It’s that bad.”

House Bill 1134 would prohibit educators from promoting “certain concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum” or requiring “an employee of the school corporation, qualified school, or state educational institution to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of racial or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or political affiliation.”

CRT holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

The legislation would establish a complaint process so parents can raise concerns if a teacher or educator violates the restrictions laid out in the bill. Schools would also not be able to require students “to participate in a personal analysis, an evaluation, or a survey that reveals or attempts to affect the student’s attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings without parental consent,” if the bill passes.

“It opens the door for parents to be able to come after you for anything,” another Indiana teacher, Suzanne Holcomb, told the Indy Star. “It’s the last nail in the coffin. I don’t know how we would move forward from this. It would just make teaching impossible.”

The bill states that nothing should be “construed so as to exclude the teaching of historical injustices committed against any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or political affiliation or ideals or values that conflict with the Constitution of the United States.”

Other school employees said they see the legislation as a necessary step in providing parents with more education transparency.

“HB 1134 is a much-needed step towards addressing critical race theory and curricular transparency in Indiana’s public education system,” Tony Kinnett, an Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) administrator fired in December 2021 for leaking CRT training and materials the district was teaching, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Most criticisms of the bill have been built from poorly orchestrated fear-mongering—claiming the bill forbids teaching history when specific language on page 31 bans censorship of any sort.”

“It is true that the transparency requirements and language in the bill is not well thought through, which is why I believe the best course of action is to separate HB 1134 into three separate bills regarding crt, SEL, and curricular transparency,” Kinnett said.