The state board of education may decide to suggest social studies teachers use a curriculum compiled by The Bill of Rights Institute. That’s an education group funded in part by the conservative Koch family.
A 2011 law, called the Founding Principles Act, required the state department of public instruction to come up with a curriculum to teach such topics as inalienable rights, due process, and federalism.
Robin McCoy oversees curriculum development for the department. She says North Carolina teachers and the department carefully screened the institute’s materials.
As that product was being developed, they gave drafts of that product to the department in our social studies section to look at, to vet, to provide feedback. So there should be no bias based on any particular viewpoints.
The department signed a $100,000 contract with the institute. The state board of education is scheduled to decide next month whether to ask local boards to suggest teachers use the institute’s curriculum.
Many social studies teachers say they already have plenty of materials to use to teach the founding principles.
