Members of the House Education Committee heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would ban Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in Texas’ K-12 schools.
Opponents of Senate Bill 12, authored by Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, said if it becomes law, it would continue a legacy of racial bias DEI work is trying to correct.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion policies are not about favoritisms,” said Antonio Ingram, a senior attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “These policies are about remediation and mitigation of legacies of racial bias and discrimination which still persists in Texas schools today.”
Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano called SB12 a “parental rights bill.”
“The school district should eliminate unlawful discriminatory practices as necessary to “address achievement gaps and differentials,” Leach said. “When it comes to what a school district should be about, it's about the students themselves, no matter what they look like, where they come from.
“This is about performance and achievement and prohibits discriminatory practices.”
Democratic state Rep. John Bryant of Dallas asked if that meant some Black teachers chosen to teach in schools with predominantly Black student populations might violate SB12.
“Don't you agree that some consideration should be given to trying to have a faculty in a school that looks a little bit like the population, the student population there?” he asked Leach.
Leach replied he didn’t.
“You and I just are going to just disagree on this,” he told Bryant.
Vanessa Sivadge, with the group Protecting Texas Children said the bill empowers parents by affirming their right to “direct the moral, religious, and educational upbringing of their children,” and she welcomed the removal of DEI “mandates” she said injected divisive ideological content into the classroom.
“At a time when children across Texas are being exposed to radical ideologies, sexualized content, and political agendas in the very classrooms that should be safe havens for learning and growth, SB12 draws a clear line that the state of Texas will protect its children,” Sivadge said.
But Alief student Azima Siddique said the bill won't protect students — instead, it will erase histories and foster an "environment of fear and ignorance in classrooms across our state."
"At its core, SB122 is a censorship bill," she said. "It creates vague and overly broad guidelines that can and will be used to target educators and content that reflects the identities, histories, and lived experiences of students like me."
The bill, which passed out of the Senate in March, was left pending in committee.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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