A faction of S.C. House Republican lawmakers are suing Charleston County School District over claims its schools are teaching critical race theory.
The lawsuit, filed on Nov. 28 by the S.C. Freedom Caucus, claims the district violated state law by using state funds for lessons the group says teach students to discriminate against others. The caucus argued lessons about how White people benefit from structural racism infringe on constitutional rights and state laws protecting students from discrimination.
The lawsuit’s claims echo those of the other lawsuit that the Freedom Caucus filed against the Lexington 1 school district in mid-November.
Curriculums that allegedly teach critical race theory have been under attack across the country. In Georgia, one educator was pushed out of her role in the Cherokee County School District before she even started over fears she was going to impose critical race theory curriculum on schools, and school districts in both Tennessee and Connecticut have been sued over the concept. Critical race theory is the academic framework that looks at racism embedded in public policy and legal institutions in the United States, and is typically taught in graduate level courses.
Charleston County School District is examining the claims, according to Andy Pruitt, CCSD spokesman.
“We are consulting our legal team to ensure we take the appropriate next steps to resolve this,” he said in a statement.
The Freedom Caucus, which formed in April 2022, is made up of hardline conservatives. The S.C. law cited, which was inserted into the state budget last year, prohibits state money from being used to teach students or train instructors, administrators and staff in concepts that fall under “partisanship curriculum.”
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These ideas include teaching that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, and that people, whether consciously or unconsciously, are inherently oppressive because of their race or sex.
Much of the lawsuit focused on EL Education, a New York-based nonprofit that provides curricula and training to schools across the country. EL Education’s website lists Charleston as one of its district partners.
In the lawsuit, the Freedom Caucus claimed EL Education is “obsessed with race” and included, among other points, details from EL Education’s website in which the organization outlines its commitment to equity and anti-racism. The website states the organization views “education as a powerful engine for disrupting structural racism.”
In response to the claims, EL Education CEO Scott Hartl stood by his organization's learning services, which he called based in the science of learning, aligned with South Carolina's standards and validated by third-party research.
"We’re disappointed that the South Carolina Freedom Caucus will divert public education resources for political aims which are not in the best interest of children. EL Education stands with the Charleston County School District in working to ensure that students have access to high-quality learning opportunities," he said.
The Freedom Caucus first attacked Lexington 1 and its partnership with EL Education in late October. The caucus released an edited audio recording of an EL Education employee in which she is heard saying the organization’s curriculum has been developed to be “inclusive of culturally relevant teaching.”
The caucus claimed it was proof of “liberal indoctrination” of students, and the recording sparked a Fox News report.
Hartl told The Post and Courier at the time that the employee’s responses were “deliberately twisted into a false and crudely edited narrative.”
Still, the audio recording provided the basis of the Freedom Caucus’ lawsuit in Lexington 1.
At the Nov. 16 announcement for the Lexington 1 lawsuit, Rep. Adam Morgan of Greenville County, chairman of the caucus, said the recording “clearly revealed there are in fact people coming into South Carolina being paid by districts to teach teachers how to incorporate the very things that violate state standards and state law and incorporate them into their classroom.”
