Exclusive: Maine House Democrats Reject Bill to Ban Teaching Tenets of Critical Race Theory

The Democrat majority in the Maine House rejected a bill Monday that would ban teaching the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and indoctrinating K-12 students in political, religious, and ideological concepts.

The measure would also require teachers to adhere to a Code of Ethics.

CRT is a Marxist philosophy that embraces the concept that all social and cultural issues should be viewed through the lens of race.

In exclusive comments to Breitbart News, former Maine Rep. Larry Lockman (R) reported that “on a straight party-line vote (82-63), the Maine House of Representatives today rejected legislation to enact a statewide Code of Ethics for K-12 public-school teachers.”

Lockman, who is also the founder of the Maine First Project, said eight Republicans spoke in favor of the legislation, while four Democrats spoke against it, in floor debate that lasted for about 20 minutes.

He elaborated:

During a robust floor debate, Republican legislators cited numerous instances of elementary and middle-school teachers pushing their personal political agendas in the classroom. One of the co-sponsors of the bill mentioned a recent student survey of 7th graders in her district. The multiple-choice questionnaire spoke favorably of Black Lives Matter, and promoted the notion that police officers are racists who gun down civilians in the streets.

Under the proposal, teachers would be prohibited from singling out one racial group of students as responsible for the suffering or inequities experienced by another racial group of students. Political, religious, and ideological indoctrination would be banished from K-12 classrooms, and teachers would be subject to termination for flaunting the Code of Ethics.

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The bill now moves to the state Senate for debate and a vote.

The legislation summary states:

This resolve directs the State Board of Education to adopt major substantive rules prohibiting teachers in public schools from engaging in political, religious or ideological advocacy in the classroom or from introducing any controversial subject matter that is not germane to the topic of the course being taught, with penalties for violations up to and including termination of the teacher.

Additionally, the bill directs the state education department to request teacher organizations and unions to “voluntarily adopt an educator’s code of ethics and professional responsibility that incorporates the rules and that specifically prohibits teachers in kindergarten to grade 12 instruction from using the classroom for political indoctrination.”

Lockman stated he and his colleagues knew the bill would not pass, given the Democrat majority and a Democrat governor, Janet Mills.

“The objective was to get a roll call that we can use as ammunition against vulnerable incumbents in next year’s legislative elections,” he noted.

“It was a relief to get a clean up-or-down vote on the bill,” Lockman continued, pointing out that Maine First Project “lobbied vigorously against a Republican-sponsored poison-pill committee amendment that gutted the bill.”

“Mainers responded to our call to action, and applied sufficient pressure on wobbly Republican legislators to keep the amendment from seeing the light of day on the floor of the House,” the former lawmaker stated. “Mission accomplished!”