The Pennsylvania Department of Education agreed to reverse a progressive policy on Wednesday after a legal nonprofit challenged its standing in court.
The Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Program Framework Guidelines (CR-SE) “sought to mandate that educators affirm and impose on their students highly ideological beliefs about contentious social and political issues,” according to the Thomas More Society, a conservative Catholic law firm.
“This required educators throughout Pennsylvania to make acknowledgments of the ‘biases [that] exist in the education system,’ ‘microaggressions,’ and ‘unconscious biases,’ among other ideologically tinted points,” the organization said in a press release.
After the program’s implementation in November 2022, the Thomas More Society filed suit in April 2023 on behalf of three public-school districts and a collection of parents and students. They argued — successfully — that the policy violated the First Amendment.
Last month, the parties participated in a mediation session with a judge emeritus of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and came to an agreement.
“We are incredibly pleased with this settlement agreement, which forces the Pennsylvania Department of Education to rescind the state’s ‘Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education’ guidelines—securing an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students, and teachers,” Thomas Breth, Thomas More Society special counsel, said in the release.
“Our agreement is a triumph against the Department’s blatantly ideological and illegal attempt to inject ‘woke’ activism into school curricula across Pennsylvania, which demanded educators affirm their belief in these ideological tenets and then impose the same upon their students.”
Thomas More Society executive vice president and head of litigation Peter Breen also shared his satisfaction with the ruling.
“Educational standards should help students learn how to think, not what they must believe,” he said. “This victory against Pennsylvania’s ‘woke’ curriculum mandate restores that opportunity for Pennsylvania families and teachers.”
“Pennsylvania’s CR-SE curriculum guidelines commanded to students what they must believe and unconstitutionally compelled teachers to pledge loyalty to an ideological program.”