The Mississippi state legislature passed a bill banning critical race theory in schools. The bill is now sitting on the governor’s desk waiting for signature.
Gov. Tate Reeves, who has been an outspoken critic of critical race theory, will determine the fate of the legislation, which would go into effect immediately upon signature.
The bill prohibits public universities and colleges, community colleges and public charter K-12 schools from teaching students that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is superior to another, Just the News reports.
If enacted, individual students are not to be treated differently because of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin and the bill provides that no distinctions or classifications are to be made on the basis of race, other than for the required collection or reporting of demographics.
The bill would additionally provide that “no course of instruction shall be taught that affirms such principles.”
The Department of Education would also be prohibited from releasing funding to entities under its jurisdiction, including school districts, charter schools and community colleges, universities and colleges, boards of trustees and the Mississippi Community College Board, that violate the bill.
The bill passed the Senate by a 32 to 2 vote, but with 18 members absent when the vote took place. The bill passed the House by a 75 to 43 vote, with three absent and one not voting.
The Mississippi Center for Public Policy, which authored the bill, celebrated its passage.
“Our bill is 100% consistent with Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of an America in which people are judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin,” the Center for Public Policy said in a news release.
“Delighted to see the bill on Critical Race Theory that [Mississippi Center for Public Policy] authored being voted through the Mississippi House today,” President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Carswell wrote in a tweet.
