Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has accused the New York State Education Department (NYSED) of misusing federal COVID-19 funds to push Critical Race Theory in elementary and secondary schools.
“I write with serious concern that the New York State Education Department is using federal taxpayer dollars provided through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to promote Critical Race Theory under the guise of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE),” Stefanik wrote in a letter (pdf) to New York’s Education Commissioner Betty Rosa on May 6.
Stefanik voiced her concerns regarding NYSED’s implementation of a “transformative SEL” framework, or SEL and CRSE combined, in its fall 2021 return-to-school plan as one of three “priority areas of focus.”
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