A new report shows that the group’s agenda has reached nearly 200 schools in the United States.
According to a new report, a leftist advocacy group has spread its ideology to at least 169 school districts in 42 states.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) promotes social justice and antiracism activism. The organization’s content and materials have been found in classrooms as early as kindergarten across the United States.
Nicole Neily, president of Defending Education, recently spoke out about the group’s influence on students across the country.
According to Defending Education’s report, an SPLC education program called “Learning for Justice” has been integrated into K-12 lesson plans and materials in 169 school districts in 42 states and Washington, D.C.
The program reinforces “far-left cultural and political ideologies,” including “anti-racism, Black Lives Matter, gender ideology and queer theory, white privilege, white supremacy, whiteness, and transgenderism,” according to Defending Education.
Neily said that because of the program’s integration in school curricula, “issues such as queer theory, white privilege, and anti-racism have supplanted traditional coursework in history, social studies, and other core classes.” In her statement, she said that the program is “teaching children to view themselves and others through the lens of identity politics, and that America is forever stained by its original sin.”
The report from Defending Education reveals that SPLC’s website and documents are found on school district webpages, in teacher professional development trainings, classroom lessons, district-wide curricula, social justice standards, and district antiracism and equity policies.
Rhyen Staley, director of research at Defending Education, said in a statement that the “amount of influence the SPLC’s programming and content has had on district policies, learning standards, curriculums, and lessons is a real concern for families who value a bias-free learning environment.”
“No organization that labels concerned parents as ‘extremists’ and members of ‘hate groups’ should have its biased content used in K-12 schools,” Staley continued.
SPLC was indicted last month on federal fraud charges from a years-long alleged covert paid informant program. The 11-count indictment accuses the organization of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealed money laundering.
