Your child’s public education program is reviewed by the Indiana Legislature.

At Wednesday’s Senate Education Committee meeting, the committee heard testimony from parents and a teacher who said he is fired from Indianapolis public schools because he exposes the wrapped teaching of the District of Critical Race Theory (District denies accusation that CRT is taught).

“I see a lot of acts of racism from teachers all over the state,” said Tony Kinnett, who has appeared on Fox News and other media, speaking about what he says is an inappropriate program. and source of division. “However, I haven’t seen large quantities of it outside of Indianapolis public schools.”

Senate Bill 167, also known as the “Education Matters” Bill, gives parents some oversight of the school curriculum by requiring districts to establish committees with parents on them. , who would have a say in what is taught.

The bill, if it becomes law, would also fill a loophole that protects schools and staff from prosecution for distributing sexually explicit material to students.

Cindy Black, whose children graduated from the Carmel-Clay District and whose grandchildren have started attending schools, recently participated in a public reading of materials found in the school library, which she said was strongly criticized by the superintendent because the documents were inappropriate.

“My heart sank when I discovered that our shelves were filled with inappropriate books: books that pushed conflicting social and political agendas, books that had explicit sexual conduct, books that did not meet the standards of our community, ”she told the committee.

Jennifer Hendricks, also a relative of Carmel-Clay, said she believes that by sharing student data with third parties, student privacy is at risk. The bill provides that third parties cannot obtain the identity of students from surveys.

“I am disappointed that the majority of the time has been spent discussing a proposal to ban a program that is not taught in our K-12 schools,” said Senator Eddie Melton, Deputy Leader of the Democratic Senate.

“Critical Race Theory is not a subject taught in Indiana and the continued efforts to make it a central subject divide and are partisans, especially when there are so many subjects in our education system that we could relate to. have a productive discussion. “

Senator Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) called the bill a waste and a distraction.