Missouri Senate advances watered-down school bill without critical race theory ban

After facing fierce backlash last week over a bill that would have banned schools from teaching lessons on the role of systemic racism in the U.S., Missouri Senate Republicans on Wednesday advanced a watered-down version of the legislation.

The bill, filed by state Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican, originally explicitly banned lessons on critical race theory, a college-level concept that examines the role of institutions in perpetuating racism. The academic theory is not widely taught in Missouri’s K-12 schools, but the phrase has become a shorthand among hard-right conservatives for any lesson that delves into systemic racism’s role in U.S. history or politics.

The revised legislation no longer explicitly bans critical race theory. However, it does say that teachers are banned from teaching students that “individuals of any race, ethnicity, color, or national origin are inherently superior or inferior” or that people “by virtue of their race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by others.”

But it also includes a provision stating that the bill does not ban teachers from teaching lessons on sexism, slavery, racial oppression, segregation or racial discrimination.

“I think that by providing transparency to parents, by empowering parents, parents might trust their schools more than they do,” Koenig said on the floor Wednesday.

The bill also calls on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to create a training program to “prepare teachers to teach the principles of American civics and patriotism.” Teachers who take the program would be eligible for a $3,000 bonus.

Koenig’s revised bill was the result of lengthy negotiations with Senate Democrats. State Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat who last week said the critical race theory ban sought to eradicate certain important parts of Black history, on Wednesday thanked Koenig for his willingness to make changes.

However, it remains unclear what the impact of the watered-down legislation will be.

“My concern is the unintended consequences of this legislation,” state Sen. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, said Wednesday. May, a Black woman, was among a group of Black senators who argued last week that Koenig’s bill was targeted at Black history.

Last week’s tense floor debate, which occurred on the first day of Black History Month, was the first chance for Black senators to publicly offer their perspectives on the legislation. No Black senators serve on the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee, which heard the bill last month.

No Democrats voted in favor of the bill on Wednesday. It will need to go before the chamber for one more vote before it heads to the House.