Capital District Times

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee Jim Banks (R-IN) have sent a letter to U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, criticizing the Department of Defense Education Activity's (DoDEA) efforts to integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into curricula for the children of U.S. service members. The lawmakers are also calling for an immediate change in leadership at DoDEA.

A report from OpenTheBooks highlights DoDEA’s use of professional development materials that focus on concepts such as “privilege,” “institutional racism,” and “patriarchy” in teacher training.

“Protecting our service member’s children from the Biden-Harris Administration’s DoDEA remains one of my top priorities which is why I successfully led calls to dissolve their office of DEI and have my legislation, the Service Members’ Parents Bill of Rights, signed into law. Now I’m calling on Secretary Austin and the Biden-Harris Administration to completely end all efforts to indoctrinate our service members’ children with Far Left DEI propaganda. Our service members face many challenges and ensuring their children receive a high-quality patriotic education should not be one of them. I am proud to lead my colleagues in demanding that the Department of Defense remove radical Far Left ideology from their classrooms,” said Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

“It is shameful and unsustainable that while our servicemen and women are risking their lives to defend our nation, their children are being taught that America is a racist country not worth fighting for. My House Republican colleagues and I will continue to expose and eradicate the woke indoctrination that is destroying our service-members’ trust in DoDEA schools,” said Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN).

In their letter, the lawmakers stated, “The recent OpenTheBooks report shines light on new examples of DoDEA teachers eager to promote sexually explicit content to children, reveals training materials designed to get children to cry, and classroom content ingrained with Social and Emotional Learning practices intended to turn students into radical activists. Instead of disbanding the DEI division, DoDEA has institutionalized radical social and racial ideologies through the promotion of books such as How to Be an Antiracist and Coaching for Equity to their staff for professional development. These books are blatantly racist towards hundreds of millions of Americans and delegitimize the founding of America itself. The teachers of our service members’ children cannot internalize, accept, and regurgitate false claims that America’s existence as a sovereign nation should be in question. This is inherently in opposition to the selfless choice our service members make to serve, protect, and defend the United States of America.”

The lawmakers continued, “It is completely unacceptable that once again House Republicans must remind you and the entire DoD that the mission of DoDEA is to provide our service members’ children with an education that instills high academic standards and patriotism, not to manipulate and radicalize the minds of our youth. Your continuous refusal to end the radicalization of DoDEA schools is disrespectful to our service members, will exacerbate the military recruitment and retention crisis, and significantly degrade operational readiness.”

In response to concerns from parents about radical gender ideologies being taught in DoDEA schools using DoDEA training materials, Stefanik introduced a Servicemember Parents Bill of Rights. This bill reinforces that service members with children in DoDEA schools have the right to be involved in their children's education while increasing transparency and accountability within these schools. Stefanik's legislation was included in the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act passed in December 2023.

In September 2022, Stefanik along with Congressman Franklin demanded answers from the Pentagon regarding statements made by Wing. Following this advocacy effort, a 30-day review was launched by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness concerning Wing's posts deemed "racist" or "woke." An update on this review was received just three hours before today's hearing.

Representatives Stefanik and Banks were joined by Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Ronny L. Jackson (R-TX), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Sam Graves (R-MO), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Mark Alford (R-MO), Cory Mills (R-FL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Brad Finstad (R-MN), James Moylan (R-Guam), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL).