Ellen Weaver says critical race theory is in state's classrooms, outlines plans to remove it
Jun. 27—Republican state superintendent of education candidate Ellen Weaver says she's going to work to make sure that the "woke Washington ideology" stops making its way into South Carolina's classrooms.
Weaver said during a meet and greet held Sunday afternoon at Aiken's Bisquecuts and Glazy that she knows critical race theory is in some of the state's classrooms.
Critical race theory is defined as a collection of concepts that race is a social construct, that racism is prevalent in American and Western society and that legal institutions are structured in such a way as to perpetuate that racism. Therefore, some critical race theory proponents advocate anti-racism training is needed to break through the inherent racism and power structures to make sure that everyone is treated equally.
"I have gotten screenshots from teachers of professional development that's being forced upon them by their districts," Weaver said.
Aiken Public School District Superintendent King Laurence has said that critical race theory isn't in the county's classrooms.
"What I get really sick of is when the education elites try to tell us that the school book doesn't have the words CRT in it so there's no CRT in the classroom," Weaver said. "We know that CRT is a worldview that has permeated higher education for decades ... It couldn't not be because our teachers are going through higher education. Of course, it's going to come down to the K-12 system ... It is everywhere in our educational system."
Later, an audience member asked Weaver what she would do to keep critical race theory out of the state's classrooms.
Weaver said she wanted total transparency between the public school classrooms and parents including books and other resources brought into the classroom. She called for the development of an online catalog to provide parents with what resources are being used in the classrooms.
She said that a lot of the "craziness" that comes into the state's classrooms comes attached to federal dollars.
"We're going to have to have some hard conversations in the next few years about what it means to accept those federal dollars as we see more and more woke ideology tied to the transgender issue that frankly I don't think the good people of South Carolina are not going to put up with in their schools," Weaver said. "So, right now, we get about 10% of our education budget from the federal government and I'm asked all the time if I think that education in South Carolina is underfunded. I say no, it's not underfunded. It's mis-funded."
She said she thought there was some money that's being spent within the system that could be repurposed to replace some of that 10%.
Weaver said the state needed a superintendent with a backbone that would explain to the public why the state couldn't accept the conditions on some of the federal money.
S.C. Reps. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken; Melissa Oremus, R-Graniteville; and Cal Forrest, R-Saluda, attended the event.
The runoff election between Weaver and Kathy Maness will be held from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The winner will face Democrat Lisa Ellis in the Nov. 8 general election.
