SCRANTON (AP) — Public school curriculums are legitimate matters of public interest, or at least of parental interest, and they clearly are public information. So, in the normal course of things, posting curriculums online should not be controversial.
But the current political environment is far from the normal course of things, making suspect the timing of the state Senate Education Committee’s recent party-line approval of a bill to require school districts to post curriculums online.
Members of the Republican majority, who normally champion complete local control of school districts, oppose standardized testing and graduation requirements and lament the supposedly heavy hand of the Department of Education, have endorsed a heavy hand of their own. The bill would require teachers, administrators or both to post academic standards to be achieved, instructional materials, assessment techniques and course syllabuses.
It’s a classic “unfunded state mandate,” which Republican legislators typically strive to eliminate. The committee would impose the heavy administrative burden on districts without providing any additional funding to pay for it.
The bill advances amid an orchestrated attempt to convert “critical race theory” — which is not taught by any of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts — into a rallying cry for next year’s congressional mid-term and state legislative and gubernatorial elections.
It also comes amid a backdrop of some protesters appearing at school board meetings and accusing volunteer elected school directors of everything from socialism to fascism for requiring faculty, staff and students to wear masks to diminish the transmission of COVID-19.
“It’s about bringing the fights that start on Fox News to a kindergarten classroom near you,” said Rep. Dan Frankel, a Pittsburgh Democrat.
Yet the question is not information, but what people do with it. There is little doubt that some people, including many with no true interest in curriculum, will use the information for their own political purposes. But online posting could prove valuable to other people with a genuine interest in the local public school curriculum as a matter of education quality.
The Legislature should opt for transparency while covering the administrative costs.
— Scranton Times-Tribune
