How to Regulate Critical Race Theory in Schools: A Primer and Model Legislation

With racially charged pedagogy permeating public schools, a new issue brief offers legislative guidance for policymakers hoping to push back 

NEW YORK, NY – Studies show that parents don’t always know what the term “critical race theory” means, but they know its fruits when they see them—and quite often, they don’t like what they see. A summer of exhausting cultural battles over language and curricula in schools has revealed public uncertainty over an ideal policy response. A new Manhattan Institute issue brief from senior fellow and director of legal policy James Copland elucidates the current landscape of critical race theory in America’s public schools and offers a legislative framework for voters and legislators to hold their public institutions accountable. Copland’s guidance grounds itself in constitutional principles and follows in the footsteps of a handful of states—like Arizona and Idaho—that have aimed to curtail racialized instruction and compelled speech through democratically supported legislation.  

With parents and teachers across the country filing lawsuits to challenge various race and equity initiatives in their local public schools, Copland’s brief advises state legislators on best practices and discusses pitfalls they should avoid. For example, Copland cautions that bills responding to racialized pedagogy should not: 

• Stifle the marketplace of ideas; 

• Proscribe or discourage classroom discussion of race and racism, past and present;  

• Condition curriculum on individual student “discomfort” or “distress”;  

• Strain school budgeting; or 

• Undermine educational pluralism in non-district schools. 

With these principles in mind, Copland’s model grounds itself in the pursuit of greater transparency, the prohibition of government-compelled speech, and optionality for parents and staff as a safety valve against abuse. Navigating various goals and risks, Copland’s brief reviews the emerging critical phenomenon while laying out how to design straightforward K-12 curricula guidelines for a state government. In doing so, he provides a path forward for designing better bills while addressing the legitimate concerns of parents across the country. The overarching goal of the guidance is to ensure students learning within a pluralistic education framework can receive a rigorous education that neither violates their free-speech rights nor reduces them to their racial characteristics. 

Click here to read the full report.