SC state superintendent candidate Ellen Weaver says CRT is in state classrooms, vows to remove it

South Carolina superintendent of education candidate Ellen Weaver vowed Sunday that she’s going to work to keep “woke Washington ideology” out of South Carolina schools.

During a meet and greet held at Aiken’s Bisquecuts and Glazy on Sunday, Weaver said that she knows critical race theory is in some of the state’s classrooms, as reported by Aiken Standard.

While Aiken Public School District Superintendent King Laurence has argued that critical race theory isn’t in the county’s classrooms, Weaver says she has “gotten screenshots from teachers of professional development” showing that CRT is “being forced upon them by their districts.”

“What I get really sick of is when the education elites try to tell us that the school book doesn’t have the words CRT in it so there’s no CRT in the classroom,” Weaver said. “We know that CRT is a worldview that has permeated higher education for decades … It couldn’t not be because our teachers are going through higher education. Of course, it’s going to come down to the K-12 system … It is everywhere in our educational system.”

Asked by a member of the audience what she would do to keep critical race theory out of the state’s classrooms, Weaver said she wanted total transparency in what’s being taught in public school classrooms and said parents should know what books and curriculum are being brought into the school. To solve for this, Weaver suggested an online catalog showing what resources are being used in the classrooms.

She also suggested that federal funding is behind the “woke” curriculum. “We’re going to have to have some hard conversations in the next few years about what it means to accept those federal dollars as we see more and more woke ideology tied to the transgender issue that frankly I don’t think the good people of South Carolina are not going to put up with in their schools,” Weaver said.

“So, right now, we get about 10% of our education budget from the federal government and I’m asked all the time if I think that education in South Carolina is underfunded. I say no, it’s not underfunded. It’s mis-funded,” she added.

South Carolina Representatives Bill Taylor (R-Aiken), Bart Blackwell (R-Aiken), Melissa Oremus (R-Graniteville) and Cal Forrest (R-Saluda) attended the event.

Weaver is currently in a primary runoff election with Kathy Maness, who is currently in the lead. The winner will face Democrat Lisa Ellis in the Nov. 8 general election, Aiken Standard reports.