North Dakota Gov Signs Bill Banning Critical Race Theory From Public Schools

On Friday, the North Dakota state Senate passed a bill banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools; the state House of Representatives passed the bill the day before.

On Friday, Republican Governor Doug Burgum signed the bill into law.

The text of the one-page bill reads in part:

Each school district and public school shall ensure instruction of its curriculum is factual, objective, and aligned to the kindergarten through grade twelve state content standards. A school district or public school may not include instruction relating to critical race theory in any portion of the district’s required curriculum … or any other curriculum offered by the district or school. For purposes of this section, “critical race theory” means the theory that racism is not merely the product of learned individual bias or prejudice, but that racism is systemically embedded in American society and the American legal system to facilitate racial inequality. The superintendent of public instruction may adopt rules to govern this section.

Republican state Rep. Terry Jones said of CRT: “I wouldn’t feed my children poison, and I don’t want our teachers feeding our students, my constituents, my family and friends poison. And that’s all Critical Race Theory is.”

As reported by KFYR, Democratic state Rep. Corey Mock had concerns about the apparent lack of an enforcement mechanism in the bill: “Right [now], we are saying there are no consequences. Push back all you want, there’s nothing we or an aggrieved parent can do about it. I am uncomfortable with us rushing into this and creating a bad law that we’re only going to have to work back in the next year if we’re going to make it enforceable.”

The Daily Wire reached out to multiple members of the state legislature for comment, but as of publication, we have not heard back.

Critical Race Theory has rapidly become a controversial issue in public education and in the workplace. Despite many conservatives pointing out that race essentialism is being taught in schools across the country, many progressives deny the presence of Critical Race Theory, as understood academically, in K-12 education.

During a recent debate with Ana Kasparian of “The Young Turks,” Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro countered the increasingly popular progressive talking point that Critical Race Theory isn’t taught in public schools.

After Kasparian claimed that Critical Race Theory “is not taught in elementary schools,” and that the sprint to ban CRT is a “distraction,” Shapiro