Jett to tackle social-emotional learning in Oklahoma schools

State Senator Shane Jett is taking aim at national organizations seeking to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) programs in the state’s public school system by filing Senate Bill 1442, which would prohibit public school districts or charter schools from using federal, state or private funds to promote, purchase or utilize the concepts of SEL.   

The Shawnee Republican said organizations like Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), funded by leftist groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have pushed programming in public schools to psychologically manipulate children and surveil Oklahoma families under the guise of addressing trauma.

“The SEL platform sounds admirable, with goals of addressing the social and emotional development needs of children, but the motives of these programs are actually much more sinister,” Jett said. “SEL’s actual objective is to condition children to prescribed behaviors and ‘anti-racist’ training, social justice posturing and the sexualization of minors, all under the guise of affirming feelings. SEL seeks to find ‘traumas’ in our children as a pretext to push anti-family, anti-logic and anti-reason philosophies and leftist political ideologies.”

Under the measure, SEL is defined as any evidence-based or non-evidence-based programming that promotes school and/or civic engagement, and/or builds an equitable learning framework that creates or uses evidence-based benchmarks, standards, surveys, activities, learning indicators, programs, policies, processes, professional development or assessments that address non-cognitive social factors, including self-awareness, social skills, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, feelings, and emotions, among others; any evidence-based or non-evidence-based program, policy, process or procedure that uses school climate surveys to collect data from students according to skills that include, but are not limited to, education, confidence, connections, motivation, stress and/or well-being; or any evidence-based or non-evidence-based program, policy, or procedure that compiles and/or uses data from school climate surveys to develop aligned learning opportunities.

If the bill is passed and a parent or legal guardian with a child enrolled in a public or charter school believes a violation has taken place, they would report it to the county’s district attorney, who would then notify the Senate and House Education Committee chairs. If the chairs believe a violation has occurred, they would notify the State Department of Education, which would assess a financial penalty in the amount of five percent of the state aid allocation received by the school district or charter.

“We trust teachers to address the array of life experiences that children bring with them to the classroom, and they’ve done this from one-room schoolhouses until today,” Jett said. “What we don’t trust is the weaponized curriculum from suspect foundations draining our teachers’ precious classroom hours to surveil our families, while applying psychological programming on our children without parental consent.

“It’s unfair to expect our teachers to act as child therapists, and many of our educators have been discouraged due to student behavior in the classroom. Parents should be the ones addressing this behavior and being held accountable. These issues shouldn’t be treated by invasive surveys and prescribed tools created by leftist organizations.”

SB 1442 has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee and Appropriations Committee.

“SEL apologists have been instituting scare tactics and social media campaigns since I filed this measure, spreading falsehoods about extracurricular activities that would be illegal and other lies to incite anger among teachers and parents,” Jett said. “This measure has nothing to do with stripping our kids’ ability to participate in student organizations, or our teachers’ ability to be there for their students. It is strictly about ensuring radical organizations stay out of our classrooms and curriculum.”