Republican members of a pair of congressional committees sent a letter to the New York State Department of Education’s superintendent Wednesday, calling for answers on COVID-19 relief funds allegedly used to implement curricula infused with the tenets of critical race theory (CRT).
“Committees on Oversight and Reform and Education and Labor Republicans are investigating the use of COVID-19 relief dollars appropriated for virus mitigation and the safe reopening of schools,” the members wrote in the letter. “Instead of using the COVID-19 relief dollars to reopen schools or remediate the learning loss, New York is reportedly using the funds to implement controversial curricula such as Critical Race Theory (CRT).”
The letter was sent in response to reports that dollars from the American Rescue Plan, which provided more than $120 billion in relief to schools affected by pandemic lockdowns, had been used to fund CRT curricula in New York schools. (RELATED: REPORT: Police Did Not Receive Call About Bomb At Boston Children’s Hospital)
“I am continuing this charge for transparency about New York’s use of federal COVID dollars to institute radical, racist theories in the classroom,” New York representative Elise Stefanik, one of the signers of the letter, told the Daily Caller in a statement. “Make no mistake, the implementation of CRT by any other name in New York classrooms is wrong. As students across the country are suffering from learning loss due to authoritarian school lockdowns and forced mandates, schools should be focused on getting our students back our track, so our next generation does not fall further behind.
Make no mistake – @EdLaborGOP WILL conduct critical oversight over New York State’s blatant misuse of federal COVID funds to implement CRT in the classroom.
My push for TRANSPARENCY with the Committee’s Lead Republican @VirginiaFoxx 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/UJlfBFfpBm
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) June 16, 2022
“I have stood up against this shameful use of hard-earned taxpayer dollars to peddle this radical ideology, but still the Far-Left department has failed to fully comply with my request for the truth,” Stefanik continued.
The lawmakers demanded a quantity of documentation concerning the alleged scandal, including documents and communications related to the use of COVID-19 relief funds.
In May, Stefanik sent a letter to NY Department of Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa expressing “serious concern” over reports the department had used pandemic relief funds to implement CRT. In June, Stefanik, joined by North Carolina representative Virginia Foxx, sent a follow up letter demanding documents, correspondence and memos related to the alleged misuse of funds.
The New York State Department of Education did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report.