How Ohio educators teach about racism, slavery and other "divisive concepts" will be up for debate on Wednesday.
But don't expect the hearing to go all night.
Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wooster, says his committee will spend about three hours on House bills 322 and 327 even though more than 250 people submitted written testimony.
"We are not voting on these bills (today)," Wiggam said. And people who don't get a chance to speak can come back next week.
What the committee plans to do on Wednesday is listen.
Supporters of these bills believe that a new way of teaching American history has entered Ohio's classrooms. It's dangerous and divisive, and its narratives go against the American dream.
Supporters have latched on to the term "critical race theory" as a catchall for teaching about the role of race in history and society.
"It’s really based off of Marxism, and the fact that we should make those who have been successful feel that they have been privileged," Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, said when he introduced HB 322. "I think that’s an important thing to realize. We are looking for equality in opportunity, not equality in outcome."
Developed by legal scholars in the 1970s, CRT looks at how slavery and the racism that came with it still permeate American life. For example, workplace dress codes that ban dreadlocks or other traditionally Black hairstyles.
Neither bill used the phrase critical race theory. Instead, they both attempted to frame how schools could talk about American history.
For example, HB 322 has a laundry list of prohibited concepts such as any lesson claiming "the advent of slavery in the territory that is now the United States constituted the true founding of the United States."
It also bans any curriculum that teaches students to "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s race or sex."
Opponents say the broad language in the bills would "whitewash" history and cause teachers to shy away from discussing important topics.
"This really cuts to the heart of what teachers do in the classroom," Ohio Federation of Teacher's President Melissa Cropper said.
Julie Womack, an attorney and mother from Cincinnati, agreed. That's why she drove up to Columbus Tuesday for a counterprotest outside the State Board of Education.
"I think there is so much misinformation about what's being taught right now ...," Womack said. "(Critical race theory) is not being taught in K-12 schools. It’s being used as a boogeyman. The definition is being over broadened to become anything dealing with race in schools."
Ohio isn't alone in this debate over what is critical race theory and whether it's being used in public schools. Lawmakers in at least 28 states have introduced bills to define how schools teach American history.
And former President Donald Trump wrote an opinion piece in June that said teaching CRT bordered on “psychological abuse.”
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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