Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill on Friday that prohibits critical race theory from being taught.
According to the state legislature, House Bill 2906 was passed in a 31-25 vote and the Senate passed the bill with a 16-12 vote.
The bill prevents “state and any local governments from requiring their employees to engage in orientation, training or therapy that suggest an employee is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
“When I took office, I vowed to use taxpayer dollars responsibly, and funding training on political commentary is not responsible spending,” Governor Ducey said. “I am not going to waste public dollars on lessons that imply the superiority of any race and hinder free speech.”
“House Bill 2906 goes a long way towards protecting Arizonans against divisive and regressive lessons. My thanks go out to Representative Udall, Representative Hoffman and Senator Livingston for their leadership on this legislation. Here in Arizona, we’re going to continue to be leaders on civics education and teach important lessons about our nation’s history.”
Last week, Governor Ducey signed a bill, HB2898, to prohibit schools from teaching that one race is superior to another or that a person is a racist based on the color of their skin.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) teaches that race is a social construct and that racism is buried in legal systems and laws.
It is the latest political debate in education. While it examines the impact of racism on history and teaches that racism is systemic, Republicans call it divisive, unpatriotic, discriminatory and use the term to imply teaching students about racism.
The American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions, pledged to defend its members who teach an “honest history” of the United States.
They made the announcement in an effort to push back against legislation in several states, including Arizona, that seeks to ban “critical race theory” or bills that aim to limit how race and racism are discussed in schools, according to The Associated Press.