Bids to ban critical race theory have come in every state — except Delaware: database

The topic has taken many titles.

From banned “divisive concepts” in former President Donald Trump’s executive order to notions that "the United States is fundamentally racist,” many opponents ultimately landed on critical race theory. It’s a name belonging to an area of study meant to explain how race and law have been used to produce systemic racism in the U.S. It quickly made its way to discussions of K-12 education.

President Joe Biden has since revoked that 2020 executive order — but one institution was quite confident these efforts weren’t going anywhere.

Researchers at UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program launched a database to track it. And just one year after the order, federal, state and local governmental agencies had introduced some 250 measures to outlaw teaching the theory.

This month, CRT Forward database announced that total has reached 619.

Subscribers go deeper: Are Delaware schools meeting new Black history requirements? Not yet. Here's why

Each measure targets a certain institution, according to project director Taifha Natalee Alexander, so far including K-12 schools, higher education and governmental agencies. The massive team effort gathered everything from a policy, regulation, law, resolution or just a formal statement.

“When you take local efforts into account, the database shows that anti-CRT measures have been introduced in every state except Delaware,” Alexander said. “That means in 49 states, even if efforts to outlaw critical race theory were not introduced at the state level, they were introduced in at least one municipality or by a local school board.”

Highlights from a national CRT database

• 40% of anti-CRT measures mimic language in Trump’s executive order.

• 94% of all enacted measures and 90% of all measures targeted K-12 education.

• Of the measures targeting K-12 education, 73% regulate classroom teaching and 75% regulate curricular materials.

• Of the measures introduced by state legislatures, 1 out of 3 include enforcement provisions that would withhold funding from school districts as a consequence for violations.

• Anti-CRT measures have been introduced in 49 states.

Bans could target CRT by name or come after similar content, from New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project to other common taglines like divisive, controversial, fundamentally racist, responsibility, guilt and more.

And it hasn't been happening in red states alone.

"For a long time the narrative in the media had been that this is something that you only have to be concerned about if you live in Texas or Georgia or Florida," Alexander said. "And what we found through this more intentional search in analyzing local policies, in addition to state and federal, was that there were anti-CRT measures that were taking place in blue states at the local level."

California is just one example of a state that saw no proposed bans at the state level, according to the database, but 11 came from the local level across the state. Seven passed. Maryland had just one school district adopt such a policy. New Jersey had seven instances of proposed legislation in the database, though all were since withdrawn or expired. Pennsylvania had one school district attempt a policy and three instances of proposed legislation, all withdrawn or expired in the data collection.

Delaware was nowhere to be seen.

So what is happening in Delaware?

A very different law is settling in for the First State.

The historic legislation dubbed House Bill 198, passed in 2021, requires all Delaware public schools — both district and charter — to infuse instruction of Black history and experience into K-12 curricula.

In striking contrast to news from some conservative states, the law gave 19 school districts and 23 charter schools about a year to update all curricula with contributions of Black people to American history, life, literature, economy, politics and much more.

The implementation deadline, by law, has passed. The first full report from the Delaware Department of Education was published in January.

This school year was supposed to mark full implementation, but it’s clear in the report’s language and conversations with Delaware educators that isn’t the case.

Each system has begun spelling out where they are now, with over 900 pages of report online. There would be no single content package to purchase. Schools were encouraged to lean on primary, firsthand sources and seek out local history.

But from community meetings to family inquiries, it seems Delawareans want to better understand where schools are now — and what measures are in place to track their system’s depth.

Subscribe to go deeper: Are Delaware schools meeting new Black history requirements? Not yet. Here's why

New requirements for curricula across K-12:

• The history and culture of Black people before the African and Black Diaspora, including contributions to science, art and literature.

• The significance of enslavement in the development of the American economy.

• The relationship between white supremacy, racism and American slavery.

• The central role racism played in the Civil War.

• How the tragedy of enslavement was perpetuated through segregation and federal, state and local laws.

• The contributions of Black people to American life, history, literature, economy, politics and culture.

• The socioeconomic struggle Black people endured and continue to endure in working to achieve fair treatment in the United States; as well as the agency they employ in this work for equal treatment.

• Black figures in national history and in Delaware history.

“It looks a little bit like throwing darts,” said Michael Feldman, social studies education associate with the Delaware Department of Education, of the first statewide report. “Because it is. During this first year of implementation, districts are making sure they attended to each one of these things.”

The Education Department stressed its role in the legislation is supportive, not evaluative, and while efforts are being seen, Delaware systems have a long way to go.

School Board Election: Politics, contention and your kids: Delaware's school board races start taking shape for May 9

This spring, districts are also preparing for school board races. ACLU-DE released a comprehensive school board voter guide ahead of the May 9 election on Tuesday, outlining how people can participate. Advocates like Delaware PTA know many of these subjects will be on candidates' radars.

Have a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network's Northeast Region and Delaware Online, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Delaware only state to not see attempts to ban CRT: database