When White Parents Aren’t so Nice: The Politics of Anti-CRT and Anti-equity Policy in Post-pandemic America

ABSTRACT

In the run-up to the U.S. 2022 midterm elections, Republicans brought their fight to regain control of Congress to school districts across the country. Deploying a national disinformation campaign regarding how issues of race and racism are taught in K-12 public schools, astroturf¹

¹ Astroturf organizations maintain a facade that creates an impression of grassroots support and hides their elite origins and backing.

conservative advocacy organizations mobilized activists to descend on school board meetings and upend school board elections nationwide demanding an end to indoctrination of children with critical race theory (CRT). These efforts created a chilling effect among superintendents and school board members committed to advancing equity, anti-racism, and social justice. In this descriptive, conceptual paper, we portray and analyze the national campaign against CRT and equity in schools, how it played out at the local school district level, and its implications for superintendents and school board members leading for equity. Tenets of critical policy analysis are used to frame and organize our analysis of the national disinformation campaign to include policy documents, blog posts, news coverage, and related materials that illustrate its impact on local school districts. We conclude with a discussion of how superintendents and school board members committed to equity leadership must understand how the politics of race and effective use of political spectacle can undermine local efforts to advance equity and social justice in schools, and consider the far-reaching consequences for the future of public education in the U.S.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Astroturf organizations maintain a facade that creates an impression of grassroots support and hides their elite origins and backing.

² This was not the first time White parents in Loudoun County organized against students of color in their schools. Loudoun County’s school system was the last in Virginia, and among the last in the nation, to desegregate following Brown v. Board. In 2020, the district officially apologized to the Black community for their treatment during this era and even afterward.

³ These rejected notions are supposedly found in practices such as restorative justice, affinity groups, and culturally responsive teaching and more broadly in anything labeled anti-racist or equitable (Manhattan Institute, 2021).

⁴ A bill to extend the restrictions in Florida through 12th grade was passed in April 2023.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ann LoBue

Ann LoBue is a Doctoral Candidate in the Education Policy program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include K-12 school leadership for equity and district governance, especially school boards, and she is a former school board president. Her research has been published in Journal of Educational Administration and History.

Sonya Douglass

Sonya Douglass is Professor of Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on education leadership, policy, and politics in the U.S. She has published more than 20 articles in journals like Educational Administration Quarterly, Education Policy, and Teachers College Record, and is author of Learning in a Burning House: Educational Inequality, Ideology, and (Dis)Integration.