The Civil Rights Impact of Laws Prohibiting Certain Curricula in K-12 Education in Missouri

The Missouri Advisory Committee (Committee) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) adopted a proposal, to study the potential civil rights impact of laws prohibiting certain curricula in K-12 education. The Committee proposed to examine legislation filed, discussed, or adopted by the Missouri Legislature that seeks to prohibit the teaching of race and race-related topics; gender; gender identity; sexual orientation; class (i.e., socioeconomic status); systemic bias, and other related topics. Specifically, the Committee’s proposed inquiry focused on whether statewide legislation that bars the teaching of such curricula in public K-12 schools infringes upon the civil rights of students, the families of students, teachers and administrators, or whether it protects those rights.