K-12 curriculum has become a focal point of education culture wars. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers railed against what they called “woke” curriculum in schools during a Wednesday hearing in a U.S. House education panel, the latest example of culture wars rocking public education policy.

The hearing brought “critical race theory” to the forefront. The academic framework focuses on the social construction of race and has drawn strong Republican opposition in states across the country.

Though critical race theory is used in college and graduate-level programs, GOP members on the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education said the framework is also being taught in K-12 schools.

The federal government has no role in K-12 curriculum, which is set by states and districts across the country, leaving the House panel without any authority to legislate the matter.

Subcommittee Chairman Aaron Bean pointed to negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational outcomes and asked why schools “taught race-inspired ideology” instead of focusing on bouncing back from the pandemic-era setbacks.

The Florida Republican added that critical race theory is “now reshaping how young people interpret their identity, and it’s changing how they see themselves, each other, in our country.”

Rep. Jahana Hayes, who was a public school history teacher for 15 years, said there was never any reference to critical race theory during all of her training and studies in education.

“I never had any professional development that separated me by race and taught this because it is just not taught or discussed at the K-12 level, so not really sure why it’s a part of this hearing today — it is a legal theory taught in law school,” the Connecticut Democrat said.

Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, pointed to “specific practices undergirded by the ideology driving critical race theory.”

Rowe, who is also a senior visiting fellow at the nonprofit Woodson Center,  offered examples, such as learning exercises where children are in a line and a teacher says: “Take two steps forward if you’re white, take three steps backward if you’re Black.”

He did not specify where this occurred.

Civics knowledge lacking

Bean brought in panelists from organizations and initiatives he said were built to “emphasize the importance of civics, understanding America’s founding principles and promoting a free exchange of ideas.”

Civics has become a hot-button issue within education culture wars, and the 2024 Republican Party platform called for promoting “love of country” through “authentic civics education.”

Jed Atkins, who serves as dean and director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership, said civic knowledge “is lacking among our college students, the majority of whom lack elementary knowledge of our democratic institutions.”

Atkins said the school “ensures that the serious work of educating citizens to live and thrive in our pluralistic democracy will get done.”

Funding bigger concern, Dems say

Ranking member Suzanne Bonamici, who echoed Hayes in saying critical race theory is not a K-12 issue, directed the focus of the hearing to school infrastructure.

The Oregon Democrat touted legislation introduced last year by Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking Democrat of the full House education panel, and New Jersey Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross, that would spend billions of dollars on schools’ physical and digital infrastructure.

Bonamici said school infrastructure “is not just about walls and ceilings of school buildings” but also “the entire environment in which our children learn.”

“Right now, far too many of these environments are unsafe, outdated and desperately in need of repair,” she said.