A small faction of lawmakers in Charleston has adopted as its mission a steady push backward for social justice and the education of our children, a limit to free speech, and a grab for as much centralized control as possible.

Among recent examples is House Bill 4011, which takes aim at curriculum transparency and prohibiting the teaching and discussion of specific racial and non-discrimination topics often labeled by politicians as Critical Race Theory. Delegate Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, and the nine others who sponsored the bill want written into law that “no person should be blamed for the action committed in the past by someone of the same race, sex, ethnicity, religion or national origin.”

There’s simply no guessing who they believe they are protecting or what they want to keep our kids from learning, is there?

Cheyenne Luzynski, a teaching assistant with the West Virginia University Leadership Studies Program, is correct.

“The bills … are sourced from national trends limiting speech from educators and employers. They are an outgrowth of the false narrative that teaching the truth is somehow stereotyping,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the state Senate, lawmakers are doubling down with a truly frightening proposal. Senate Bill 587 would require the governor to create a tip line for reporting the teaching of what a caller interprets as Critical Race Theory. The legislation seems to be intended to scare teachers out of doing their jobs.

Despite the use of what they hope will be frightening language such as “Marxism,” and “antithetical to the founding of our republic,” those supporting SB587 would do well to listen to state Sen. Owens Brown, D-Ohio.

“If that’s not right out of the Soviet Union, you tell me differently,” Brown said. “We must challenge these individuals who introduce these bills …”

Indeed. The majority of state lawmakers understand it is essential we teach children all our history, and allow them to have honest discussions with their teachers about it. Curriculum decisions belong at the county board of education level, anyway. Good elected officials know that, too.