Arkansas cannot prevent 2 teachers from discussing critical race theory in classroom, judge rules
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal judge has ruled that Arkansas cannot prevent two high school teachers from discussing critical race theories in the classroom, but stopped short of broadly blocking the state from enforcing its ban on “indoctrination” in public schools.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky on Tuesday evening issued a limited preliminary injunction against the ban, one of several changes adopted under an education overhaul that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law last year.
The ban is being challenged by two teachers and two students at Little Rock Central High School, site of the 1957 desegregation crisis.
In his 50-page ruling, Rudofsky said the state’s arguments make clear that the law does not outright “prevent classroom education that teaches, uses or refers to any theory, idea or ideology.”
His ruling banned the state from disciplining teachers for teaching, mentioning or discussing critical race theory — a 1970s academic framework that focuses on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation’s institution. The theory is not a regular part of K-12 education, and the Arkansas ban does not define what critical race theory means.
Rudofsky said that while his ruling was narrow, it “should provide comfort to teachers across the state (and their students) that Section 16 does not prohibit teachers from teaching, using or referencing critical race theory or any other theory, ideology, or idea, so long as teachers do not force their students to accept such theory, ideology, or idea as valid.”
Rudofsky said his decision would still prevent teachers from taking steps such as grading based on whether a student accepts or rejects a theory, or giving students preferential treatment based on whether they have a theory. accept theory.
Both the state and the teachers’ lawyers claimed the ruling as a first victory in ongoing lawsuits over the law.
“We are very pleased that the court recognized that plaintiffs raised viable constitutional claims,” said Mike Laux, an attorney for the teachers and students who filed suit. “With this milestone under our belt, we look forward to prosecuting this incredibly important case in the future.”
David Hinojosa, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law — which also represents plaintiffs in the case — said the ruling “essentially overturned the censorship law in Arkansas, rendering the law virtually meaningless .”
Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said the ruling “merely prohibits doing what Arkansas never did in the first place.”
“Today’s decision confirms what I have been saying all along. Arkansas law does not prohibit teaching the history of segregation, the civil rights movement or slavery,” Griffin said in a statement.
The lawsuit stems from the state’s decision that an Advanced Placement course on African American studies would not count for state credit during the 2023-2024 school year. The lawsuit against the teachers argues that the state ban is so vague that it forces them to self-censor what they teach to avoid exposure.
Arkansas is among Republican-led states that have imposed restrictions on how race is taught in the classroom, including a ban on critical race theory. Tennessee educators filed a similar lawsuit last year challenging that state’s sweeping ban on teaching certain concepts of race, gender and bias in the classroom.