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American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten said legislation like Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law could end in war.
In a conversation with radio host Rick Smith, the unionist said that Republicans incite hatred of teachers and public education and that laws like the ones they pass in Texas and Florida are “the way they start wars.”
“We’ve been very lucky in the U.S. and, in a way, we lived in a bubble for a long time,” Weingarten said. “This is propaganda. This is disinformation. This is how wars start. This is how hatred starts.”
AFT considers them “political attacks” against teachers
Weingarten, leader of America’s most prominent teachers’ union, accused GOP members of false allegations of indoctrination in schools regarding Critical Race Theory and Gender Ideology.
“We’re not indoctrinating,” Weingarten said. “We’re not bullying. What we’re doing is making sure we’re educating the kids. We’re keeping them safe. We’re keeping them welcome. And we teach them how to think, not what to think.”
The AFT has been critical of legislation that promotes parents’ rights over their children’s education and prohibits the sexualization of children in schools, and Weingarten has accused the governors of “denigrating” families.
“This bill, and all similar bills, single out certain children and families for mocking and denigrating them,” Weingarten said in late March about the Florida law. “It is wrong. Its intent is to divide our communities and make political hay, but it hurts children, hurts families and makes it harder for teachers to do their jobs.”
The union, one of the most powerful labor organizations in the country, said the aforementioned laws are a “political attack on the professionalism” of educators, and vowed to “work to protect” teachers.
