SC Freedom Caucus? More like the clown caucus. Lawsuit against Lexington schools proves it
People move to Lexington County for the quality of the schools. They move there for the lower taxes that come from conservative county government spending. They move there because it’s a nice place to live.
The troupe of legislative clowns who call themselves the South Carolina Freedom Caucus is undercutting all these qualities of Lexington County with a joke of a lawsuit against a school district.
As reported by The State’s Zak Koeske, the Freedom Caucus, which is made up of 14 South Carolina House members, sued Lexington School District 1 with claims that it’s teaching critical race theory.
The caucus’ evidence? A clearly doctored recording that splices together separate comments made by an education consultant who works with Lexington 1 as she spoke with a person in a hotel lobby, according to reports. The recording has zero context. During this conversation, the woman could have said something like “oh no this stuff isn’t taught in Lexington 1,” but no one would ever know that because the recording is so spliced up.
The comments that are presented sound like a general conversation about education that could easily have nothing to do with Lexington 1. Yes, the woman says she works with schools in Lexington 1. Does that mean everything she said has to do with Lexington 1? Of course it doesn’t.
The district even said the topics in the recording have nothing to do with Lexington 1.
A Lexington 1 spokeswoman told the Post and Courier of Charleston that the consultant’s comments “do not represent the views or educational practices” of the school district.
Despite this recording having little to do with Lexington 1, the caucus has taken steps that will haul the school district into court, waste time and cost taxpayers in unnecessary legal fees. Has the caucus seen the cost for a school district lawyer?
The caucus is basically mocking Lexington 1 parents and saying that the mostly conservative-leaning parents of the district don’t know how to elect a school board or send their kids to schools with appropriate teachings.
The county of the caucus’ lawsuit shows just how far these conservative Republican legislators are stretching to get some culture warrior points. They’re suing a conservative county’s largest school district. They couldn’t even find some trumped up evidence in a Democratic-leaning school district? Conservatives suing a conservative-leaning district? That’s laughably misguided on the caucus’ part.
Two members of the Freedom Caucus represent Lexington County — Rep. R.J. May and Rep. Ryan McCabe.
Suing a school district in your own county? Don’t they have better things to be working together on?
McCabe represents House District 96 that includes multiple schools in Lexington 1.
So let’s get this straight.
McCabe is endorsing a lawsuit that burdens the schools where his own voters send their kids? A lawsuit that will be a major distraction for Lexington 1 and the district’s administration, and might very well end up costing the district hefty court and legal fees? And he’s doing all this because of incredibly thin claims that CRT is being taught in Lexington 1 schools?
Voters should remember what McCabe has endorsed with this lawsuit.
Of course this lawsuit has nothing to do with CRT. Aside from proving the caucus members are useless culture warriors, the lawsuit is about creating an environment that undermines public education. The lawsuit will accomplish nothing except pushing away quality teachers and administrators. Later these Freedom Caucus clowns will decry “our failing schools” that they’ve wrecked while endorsing privatization of schools, which would exclude poorer and minority students.
The lawsuit’s other unwritten intent is to stop lessons about the reality of race and racism in the United States. If the lawsuit can block those topics, the next legal action will try to stop teaching history about women, then about Jews and the Holocaust, then about anything else that makes these groups uncomfortable. Then the groups filing these lawsuits will say, “why do we need public education at all?”
The Freedom Caucus is taking steps to undo one of the exact qualities that makes Lexington County attractive. Its schools.
Maybe the caucus want to open clown schools instead?
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "SC Freedom Caucus? More like the clown caucus. Lawsuit against Lexington schools proves it."