After a month-long summer freeze, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) released most of the $6.8 billion in federal grants that were targeted for migrant education, English language acquisition, after-school and summer learning, instructional support, and student enrichment services. Of that funding, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) received $660 million. Where is that money going?
Taxpayers will be shocked to learn that school districts will use these grants primarily for woke after-school programs. Three of the programs are through Fort Worth Independent School District (ISD): Girls Inc., My Brother’s Keeper, and Communities in Schools.
Each of these organizations promotes student political activism.
Founded in 1864 with a noble mission to help girls and young women uprooted by Radical Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War, Girls Inc has drifted leftward — as most organizations do. The entity claims to support girls with the “skills to make positive changes in their own lives and to become leaders who will change the world.” Young women are “equipped” to “collaborate for impact” and to “stand in solidarity … so they can overcome obstacles and limitations.”
The code words speak volumes: This organization is a training ground for radical-left political activism. Just how far the group has drifted leftward is evidenced in its mission to “understand and appreciate diversity, embrace inclusiveness, and advance equity” — better known as DIE, or DEI.
Although DIE is banned at the K–12 and university levels, Texas laws have enough loopholes and exemptions to make enforcing a DIE ban nearly impossible — even when programs are funded by federal dollars.
Another radical left program that Ft. Worth ISD funds with federal money is My Brother’s Keeper (MBK), created by President Obama in 2014 in “response to the death of Trayvon Martin.” The website claims that its challenges are enormous: “Our country's persistent social inequities are widespread, rooted in structural and institutional racism, and prevent our boys and young men of color from reaching their full potential.”
This is straight from the Marxist playbook of Critical Race Theory that pits white against black, aggressor vs. victim. These young black men are being taught that America is an irredeemably evil, racist nation. Critical Race Theory is the vehicle for driving the cultural revolution in America. These people are being trained to play the role of victim rather than being responsible for their own actions.
MBK’s website blames all of white America for the plight of blacks, especially black males:
MBK ignores the underlying cause of the problems in the black community — fatherless homes. Instead, it blames whites for school discipline issues, joblessness, poverty, and violence. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs confirms the impact of fatherless homes: “Nearly half (49.7%) of all Black children lived with one parent in 2023, compared with about one in five (20.2%) of white children.”
According to the America First Policy Institute:
The third left-wing organization to which Ft. Worth ISD will distribute the federal grant is Communities In Schools (CIS). To the public eye, CIS sounds like a family-supportive organization. In reality, it is a leftist advocacy organization for integrating taxpayer funded social services within public schools. Leftist activist Bill Milliken founded the organization in the 1970s under the guise that integration of education and social services would bring more accessibility and more accountability to big government.
This is an underhanded way for government schools to displace parents as the primary caretakers for their own children.
While promoting itself as a public service, CIS flexes its political muscle when nosy conservatives threaten its progressive agenda. It took issue with lawmakers and education activists who tried to ban Critical Race Theory in public schools. Calling the ideology “a framework used by academics,” CIS supported CRT as a way to teach race relations.
Big donors send a red flag about the leftist leaning of CIS: the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; the Ford Foundation; and Mckenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.
There is no hope for America to survive as a free and prosperous nation if we continue to fund our own demise. Using our own federally confiscated taxes to reach our youth, we are creating “enemies within” our own borders.
Although the Trump administration had to disperse the education grants that were appropriated by Congress last March, it is a mystery as to why the budget even included programs that clearly promoted the radical left-wing agenda. President Trump has vowed to eliminate these grant programs in future federal budgets. The question is whether Republicans will hold the line on that.
Depending upon most Republican lawmakers to refuse to be yanked across the aisle to the left is an effort in futility. The American people have already decided that if we are to survive as a nation and as a free people, it will be through our own efforts.
Carole Hornsby Haynes: education policy/curriculum consultant, historian, speaker, and author. www.drcarolehhaynes.com.
Image via Pixabay.