All of this sounds not just surprising, but fishy. Me thinks that SOMEONE in Texas is suggesting to PragerU that they have a green light for coming into Texas, but no one seems to know about it, including members of the Texas State Board of Education. This is all part of the anti-CRT, far-right movement.
Important detail. PragerU is not an accredited university. Districts should stick with Scholastic materials for students instead of whitewashed curriculum that PragerU puts out.
-Angela Valenzuela
PragerU said it’s bringing conservative lessons to Texas schools. Not quite, officials say
State officials said the controversial nonprofit has not been approved as an educational vendor.
By Talia Richman
7:33 PM on Aug 22, 2023 — Updated at 8:22 PM on Aug 22, 2023
PragerU announced this week that the conservative media outlet will expand its reach into Texas public schools, but state education officials said the controversial nonprofit has not been approved as a vendor.
PragerU bills itself as offering an alternative to the “dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.” It publishes videos that explain hot-button and historical issues in bitesize chunks, which have been criticized by some as whitewashing history and promoting misleading narratives.
Last month, Florida green-lighted teachers using PragerU videos as supplemental materials in their classrooms.
The nonprofit said in a news release Tuesday that Texas is the second state to “officially approve PragerU as an educational vendor.” But the announcement took several state education officials by surprise; State Board of Education members have not voted on it.
Board chair Keven Ellis said he had no knowledge of PragerU submitting instructional material for approval.
“No one from PragerU has presented to the State Board of Education or has contacted me, as chair of the State Board of Education, to discuss any working relationship,” he said in a statement. “The SBOE has not received any request from PragerU to be approved as an education vendor.”
The PragerU confusion comes amid bitter fights over the way students should be taught about race, sexuality and America’s complex history. Florida and Texas schools are often ground-zero for conservative efforts to influence public education.
Though Ellis and other members said they were not involved, State Board of Education member Julie Pickren was featured in the organization’s announcement video, titled “PragerU Kids is Now in Texas!”
Pickren was elected last year as part of a wave of more conservative candidates. She was voted off a Houston-area school board after going to Washington during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Texas State Board of Education moves further right with new Republican members
“We are definitely ready to welcome PragerU into the great state of Texas,” Pickren said in the video.
She did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Asked about the confusion over approval, PragerU CEO Marissa Streit didn’t clear up questions. She said in a brief emailed statement: “Yes, we have been approved and it is our great pleasure and honor to serve multiple states including Texas, all the details are on our website.”
Asked to elaborate on who provided approval, she responded: “We provide supplementary, educational materials that teachers have the option to use. It is up to the schools and school districts if they use them. Just like school districts in Texas are able to use Scholastic, they can now use PragerU Kids materials.”
PragerU officials said late Tuesday that the nonprofit had spoken with Pickren about Texas schools using its educational materials and had approval as a vendor through the Texas Comptrollers office. The comptroller’s office is the state’s chief tax collector, accountant, revenue estimator and treasurer.
”The comptroller approves vendors for anything that is purchased by the state,” Ellis said Tuesday night. “That has no connection to being approved by the SBOE.”
State board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat representing Dallas, was taken aback by PragerU’s Tuesday announcement.
“I’m disappointed on so many levels,” she said. “I don’t want our students being exposed to some of this material that they offer.
“I don’t know what conversations Member Pickren has had with PragerU. I haven’t had any conversations and the board as a whole hasn’t had any conversations.”
Texas Freedom Network political director Carisa Lopez lambasted Pickren and PragerU for the way they rolled out the announcement and the content of the kids videos.
“These incendiary materials violate the religious freedom of Texas students and spread misinformation to young minds,” she said in a statement. “Our kids deserve to be taught the truth about history and climate change, and Board members should serve our children, not their own radical political agenda.”
PragerU — which is not an accredited university — posts popular five-minute videos that include titles like, “Why I Left the Left” and “Make Men Masculine Again.” Within the broader umbrella of videos is PragerU Kids.
Their educational materials offer “turnkey supplementary lesson plans” for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to Tuesday’s announcement.
Streit said in a recent video that she is “ecstatic” the organization is moving into schools.
“The left is trying to fight us, they’re trying to take us out of the schools,” she said, urging viewers to sign a petition to expand PragerU into classrooms.
In Texas, the State Board of Education votes to adopt instructional materials but it’s up to individual districts whether to use it. Local education leaders can ultimately choose materials that are approved by the SBOE or use ones that aren’t on the adopted list.
Individual districts could potentially choose to promote PragerU videos. Texas is home to more than 1,000 districts. There are dozens in Dallas, Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties.
After the Florida announcement, PragerU was met with backlash. Critics decried their videos as propaganda.
Davis said she was concerned about one video in which cartoon child characters travel back in time to meet Frederick Douglass, the famed abolitionist who was born enslaved.
The video begins with two siblings named Leo and Layla sitting on the couch, watching news about social justice protests on TV. The broadcast features newscasters talking about demands to abolish the police.
The children travel to 1852. “We’re trying to learn about activism and abolishing things. Can you help us?” Leo asks Douglass.
The animated Douglass explains to the children he is working to end slavery.
“Our Founding Fathers knew that slavery was evil and wrong. … They wanted it to end, but their first priority was getting all 13 colonies to unite as one country. The Southern colonies were dependent on slave labor and they wouldn’t have joined a union that had banned it,” Douglass says in the video.
“Are you OK with that?” Layla asks.
“I’m certainly not OK with slavery but the Founding Fathers made a compromise to achieve something great: the making of the United States,” Douglass responds.
Several of the Founding Fathers were slave owners.
What is PragerU
PragerU was founded more than a decade ago by conservative talk show host Dennis Prager. Its videos rack up millions of views.
Among the prominent conservatives who star in its five-minute clips are podcast host and writer Ben Shapiro, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and political commentator Candace Owens.
In its 2022 annual report, PragerU expands on goals for its student initiative.
“Arming parents and educators with the pro-America content they are craving — we are going toe-to-toe with massive youth media companies like PBS Kids and Disney,” it reads.
Asked about her favorite PragerU video, SBOE member Pickren said it was an explainer about the Ten Commandments.
“I can’t wait to bring that to the state of Texas,” she said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
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