Fort Worth wants students to learn more about government. A Texas law makes it tricky.

Concerns regarding a state law passed in 2021 put an end to efforts begun by Fort Worth’s Task Force on Race and Culture to improve college and workforce readiness among Black and Hispanic high school students through civic engagement.

While a Fort Worth school official says the law creates a framework for students to learn about civics, some are concerned that the law restricts students’ exposure to experiences that could help make them better citizens.

To help, one city council member is starting a program that will both adhere to the law and help students learn about local government.

In 2018, the Task Force on Race and Culture recommended civic engagement programs to increase the percentage of Hispanic and African American students classified as “college and career ready” upon high school graduation.

A Texas law, passed in 2021, presented challenges to this effort because it prohibits schools from requiring or giving class credit for “direct communication” between federal, state or local officials for “political activism, lobbying, or efforts to persuade members of the legislative or executive branch.”

The law, Senate Bill 3, which followed H.B. 3979, prohibits students from receiving school credit if they are in “participation in any internship, practicum, or similar activity involving social policy advocacy or public policy advocacy.” It restricts teaching on topics on race and gender such as “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex” or lessons that “require an understanding of the 1619 Project,” the New York Times’ 2019 project to re-frame the founding of the United States through the lens of slavery and race.

H.B. 3979 allowed public schools to teach about the accomplishments of marginalized communities through documents from the Chicano movement, women’s suffrage, and the civil rights movement. It also allowed teaching the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan and the ways in which they are “morally wrong.”

Senate Bill 3 made inclusion of those topics in coursework impermissible. It also bans the teaching of certain documents such as Martin Luther King Jr. ’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream” speech, Brown v. Board of Education, the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, and the Indian Removal Act.

Framework for civics learning

But Joseph Niedziela, director of Humanities for Fort Worth ISD, says the law will strengthen civic learning and engagement opportunities for students. It creates a civics training program that is in development and gives guidance on civic instruction. Campuses that take part in the program must have a teacher, principal, or campus instructional leader take part in a civics training program no later than the 2025-2026 school year, according to Senate Bill 3.

According to the law, students can learn about the process of lobbying and the history of activism but can’t engage in lobbying or activism as part of a course or receive a course credit for it. Students can still volunteer or engage in projects for their own civic activities but are not able to receive credit, Niedziela says.

The civic engagement goal created by the Task Force on Race and Culture was halted due to Senate Bill 3.

The goal was to increase the percentage of Hispanic and African-American students who were considered college and career ready by 5% to 10% and to increase the level of civic and community engagement of sixth- to 12th-grade students by the year 2023. The purpose was to “increase academic skills and address social and emotional abilities as well as teach students the value of civic involvement in their community.”

Students to attend Fort Worth city council meetings

On Jan. 9, members of the Fort Worth city council supported an idea promoted by Councilwoman Gyna Bivens to have school districts bring students to city council meetings for a civic education opportunity.

Bivens said she has thought about providing a civic education opportunity for students since 2017. She said she recognized the need for such a program after she noticed people raise questions at city hall about problems that don’t fall under the responsibility of the council. These included inquiries about driver licenses not mailed in a timely manner to social security documents being lost in the mail.

Bivens wants to expose students to how the government works and what the city is responsible for, she says.

“It’s all about raising awareness, about what city hall really does, and how it’s so important that the people be involved,” Bivens said. “And if we can get students coming in on a regular basis, I promise you, you will see people who are more aware of local governance and the challenges we have.”

The civic education opportunity will be nonpartisan and will help ease the stress of citizens who did not know where to turn with questions, Bivens said. The program could even allow students to help their parents or family members when they have questions regarding government.

Bivens says the city attorney office will ensure the program does not violate the state law.

The decision on what schools and students will participate will be determined by the school administrators, according to Bivens. The first two school visits are scheduled to be from Eagle-Mountain Saginaw ISD and Fort Worth ISD. They will attend a morning city council meeting on Feb. 27.

Engagement involves ‘being part of a solution’

Rebecca Dean, professor of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington, says civic engagement is more than political engagement but exposure to different kinds of people.

It could mean that people volunteer at a local animal shelter and become aware of problems with feral animals that are not spayed or neutered or they pick up trash along a river and learn how the river affects the community.

Dean interprets what were the Task Force on Race and Culture’s recommendations as civic engagement that brings people from different lived experiences together to work on solutions to build stronger communities.

“I think that when people get involved in things that are more than their own family and immediate needs, then they become more receptive to seeing concerns and problems around them, and maybe get more interested in being part of a solution,” Dean said.

Dean says H.B. 3979 and Senate Bill 3 are part of a general movement by social conservatives to protect children against against the indoctrination of liberal teachers or liberal curriculum. She thinks teachers should be careful about how they approach subjects in class that deals with race and gender. She suggests that teachers should be as nonpolitical as possible in their work. This, Dean says, involves helping students develop their skills and recognizing how they translate to professional life.

Debate about the American narrative

Keith Gaddie, who is the Hoffman Chair of the American Ideal and a professor of political science at Texas Christian University, says H.B. 3979 and Senate Bill 3 are the result of the ongoing debate about the American narrative.

Gaddie recalled President Ronald Reagan’s farewell speech, which touched on the topic of “informed patriotism.” This means having discussions about American policy and important issues that engage and help build critical thinking skills, he said. Public schools are an ideal place to train people in citizenship, leadership and community engagement but the state law inhibits that, Gaddie says.

“It’s an effort to further isolate education in a manner that it’s only about technical processes and establishing things that only serve to create a trained workforce for the marketplace, but not necessarily a trained citizen,” Gaddie said.

Gaddie says the debate is rooted in issues surrounding the founding of the country, the nation arising from slavery, and the treatment of indigenous people. For some, these issues put a stain on the moral legacy of the nation, he said. But for some lawmakers, addressing such issues in the classroom and in curriculum challenges the vision of America ideals they grew up with, Gaddie said.

Bivens says her program is about education and awareness, with no political persuasion directed toward students.

“I think the line being crossed comes about if you see partisanship engaged, and that was strictly not my idea when I came up with this,” Bivens said. “And I’m sure we’ll be more than fine. I would love to see all segments of our community get involved with how the government works.”