Taxpayer-Funded Woke Indoctrination In South Carolina

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South Carolina colleges, universities and K-12 school districts have received tens of millions of federal dollars over the last four years for allegedly discriminatory hiring programs and a campaign to “embed” woke propaganda in its failing government-run schools.

Surprised? Don’t be… this sort of taxpayer-subsidized indoctrination has been happening at the state level for years, despite so-called “Republicans” enjoying a supermajority in the S.C. General Assembly. It shouldn’t be shocking, then, to learn the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has been mainlining this leftist lean.

From 2021 to present, a whopping $71.9 million in federal “education” funding has been appropriated to South Carolina-based institutions for a variety of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs – including an entire center run by woke propagandists who tout themselves as “champions” of this divisive ideology.

Nationally, Biden and Harris have appropriated more than $1 billion since 2021 on DEI hiring and programming initiatives, money routed through the U.S. Department of Education (Ed.gov), according to documents released this week by a parental advocacy organization.

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In South Carolina, the so-called “Center of Excellence for Educator Preparation and Innovation” received the largest grant – totaling $25.2 million. Among the leaders of this group? An administrator whose ‘Women in Education’ nonprofit expressly admits those who “identify as women.”

Or, not women.

A $2.5 million grant (.pdf) awarded to Clemson University purports to aid in the recruitment of “diverse, highly qualified educators” at various “high-needs, rural schools in South Carolina.” Digging deeper into the application, though, the grant’s focus references “supporting the development of equity-minded teachers” – a process which included taxpayer-funded “seminars on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

A three-year grant (.pdf) for Laurens County School District 55 totaling $13.6 million was more overt in its intention, stating its goal was “to create schools where equity, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in the school culture.”

Data regarding the grants was released this week by the group Parents Defending Education, which said the money had “entrenched far-left ideologies in education.” Parents Defending Education exclusively released its findings to Fox News, vowing to “reclaim our schools from activists imposing harmful agendas.”

“The only people or groups to benefit from the enormous amount of grant funding are the universities, administrators, and DEI consultants, at the expense of children’s education,” one of the group’s leaders told the network. “This needs to change by placing children’s learning at the forefront of education, instead of prioritizing race-based policies and DEI.”

While South Carolina “Republicans” have been part of the problem when it comes to subsidizing all of this woke propaganda, U.S. president Donald Trump campaigned this year on dramatically reducing federal involvement in schools. Count on FITSNews to keep track of his efforts to do so… and to continued holding Palmetto State lawmakers accountable for their role in the ongoing indoctrination.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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