Today, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) delivered the following statement, as prepared for delivery, at a hearing titled "From Playground to Classroom: The Spread of Antisemitism in K-12 Schools":
"Over the past two years, the Committee on Education and Workforce has been instrumental in investigating the horrifying rise in antisemitism at universities across the country. Following this committee’s oversight, several prominent university presidents have stepped down, and we have seen important reforms at leading institutions. Progress, however, remains uneven, and far too many Jewish students continue to face discrimination, harassment, and civil rights violations at universities across the country.
"This jarring state of affairs is not limited to higher education. Antisemitism is also a growing problem in our K-12 education system. At some schools in my home state of California, the antisemitic environment is so hostile that Jewish children are withdrawing and transferring elsewhere. Even the California Department of Education has found ethnic studies curricula to be antisemitic in multiple school districts.
"As with higher education, there are clear factors driving antisemitism in K-12 schools. Today’s hearing will address these underlying causes.
"First, teachers colleges increasingly prime faculty to see themselves as activists rather than educators, prioritizing divisive ideologies and casting Israel as an oppressor instead of focusing on preparing future teachers.
"Second, local and national teachers unions abuse their monopolies to put antisemitic activism into action. Take the National Education Association for example, which the Committee recently announced it will investigate. The NEA uses its position as the largest union in the country to spread antisemitism nationwide. In July, its Representative Assembly voted to ban one of the nation’s premier antisemitism watchdogs, the Anti-Defamation League.
"Third, an expansive network of outside groups partners with school districts to promote the use of instructional material that traffics in antisemitic tropes. Such groups often advance foreign interests and an anti-Israel agenda.
"These driving factors incite severe discrimination against Jewish students and teachers—forcing many to move schools to avoid being targeted by their peers and colleagues. Administrative malaise—or even prejudice—at the school, district, and state level has allowed antisemitism to fester and even become normalized.
"Many of the incidents documented by our witnesses today truly shock the conscience. The disgraceful reality we are faced with—that one of the world’s most ancient, retrograde prejudices has deeply infected our public education system—demands decisive action. We must use every tool available to protect students across America and to stop poisonous ideologies from corrupting their schooling.
"My colleagues and I are committed to understanding why antisemitism has gone unchecked at the K-12 level and to ensuring a safe learning environment for Jewish students."
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