MO DESE Funds SEL & Culturally Responsive Teaching via O’Laughlin’s New Literacy Law.
Senator Cindy O’Laughlin’s 2022 Literacy Bill, SB 681, that grew into the 166 page Ed Omnibus Bill is the vehicle for funding SEL & the other CRT (Culturally Responsive Teaching) in Missouri Schools.
In the 2022 State Legislative Session, Senators Cindy O’Laughlin (R) and Lauren Arthur (D) teamed up to usher in the 166 page Education Omnibus bill filled with progressive agendas.
It has been the vehicle for SEL (Social Emotional Learning) in many areas of instruction, including recently the SEL Standards that MO DESE was trying to push through via the rule-making process for the new “mental health training” law also outlined in the 2022 Ed Omnibus Bill.
Fortunately, was stopped 🙌 due the great response from the call action this author sent out previously on August 20, 2023.
You can read more about that here. 👇
At the meeting the October 17, 2023 meeting, the State Board of Education danced around whether to call their language “standards” or a “framework” based on the almost 2000 public comments received that were very divided.
One thing that has become unclear, is what authority MO DESE was trying to under to usher in these standards. They even had to clarify in beginning of their presentation that they needed to correct an “error” they made in reference to statutory authority they previously stated.
In the end, the State Board of Education decided to stop pursuing SEL Standards for K-12 at this time.
The people of Missouri celebrated this small win. https://x.com/moedwatch/status/1714392117122899980?s=46
Also during that meeting, the Missouri Education Commissioner, Margie VanDeven, announced her resignation with her last day being June 30, 2024.
More on Vandeven here 👇
Unfortunately, SEL, (Social-Emotional Learning) is still embedded into other areas of curriculum and resources being pushed by the MO DESE.
Where?
The curriculum frameworks and resources are being funded through O’Laughlin’s 2022 Education Omnibus bill that put technology-based mandated literacy assessments into the classroom and is now funding SEL and the other CRT (Culturally Responsive Teaching) programs.
This author wrote about the mandated technology-based literacy assessments on children here 👇
Now, through an Administrative Memo, MO DESE has approved funding for specific vendors’ curriculum programs and their resources. Why just these?
The funding is coming out of the “Evidence-Based Reading Instruction Program Fund.” The Budget appropriations allocates tax payer dollars to this fund.
(Anything that says “Evidence-based” is most likely not based on any real evidence at all. It’s usually a very small sample size over a short period of time. Always ask for the actual evidence and use your own judgement if you think that study was well conducted or not.)
Who are the approved vendors for this funding?
Benchmark Advance, 2022, and McGraw Hill’s Wonders.
Let’s look at their curriculum…
“WONDERS” by McGraw Hill.
All SEL. Social Emotional Learning.
Referencing the radical progressive group, CASEL. 👇
They did a “study.” Do not fall for the “SEL Cycle.”
James Lindsey has a great podcast on New Discourses about the cycle in which groups conduct unscientific studies in a “fraudulent circular approach” to sell it as a reason to usher in dangerous SEL policies to conduct behavioral change experiments on children on the classroom.
Listen to that here 👇
https://newdiscourses.com/2023/03/the-sel-cycle/
“Benchmark Advance”
Benchmark Education is the other approved vendor that a Missouri school can use and then receive reimbursement from the fund.
Benchmark Education focuses on what some like to call the other CRT.
Culturally Responsive Teaching.
It is basically the same critical pedagogy as Critical Race Theory. It crosses SEL into teaching subjects with an equitable lens.
Benchmark Education IS Culturally Responsive Teaching.
Here is a resource they have linked. 👇
“Know and own your cultural lens”, “Restorative Justice”, “make a space for student voice and agency”, and more.
None of this is for literacy rich content. This is all behavioral change.
There is a reason our kids are behind in grammar and math.
They have been using instruction time to work on their social and emotional “competencies”, taking them away from the content they actually need to be focused on instead.
What can you do?
Call Senator Cindy O’Laughlin and your state representatives. Ask them to repeal these sections in the law and stop funding divisive programs that are not educational for our kids in the content areas they need. That these programs are not appropriate for any learning environment and social/emotional needs are for the parents to cultivate, not the government.