According to a new report by Defending Education, more than 9 million dollars has been spent by school districts across the country on so-called "equitable" grading standards in American public schools.

The report indicates that this has been going on since 2014, and 39 different school districts across a total of 7 states have participated in it. Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest spending states is California, where more than $4 million has been spent in the last 11 years.

While "equitable grading" might sound nice at first glance, the truth is, this actually ends up hurting the very same students it was supposedly intended to help. Kendra Tietz with Defend Education explained, "Students might have a false sense of what the curriculum is, or what their proficiency in it is. Whether that's reading, writing, or math."

Tietz went on to point out how sooner or later, that false sense of confidence in their knowledge will eventually come back to haunt them. She said, "Ultimately, real-life experience will kind of expose that, and we want to prevent kids from 'failing up.' We want to see them really understand and grasp these concepts."

Texas-based education expert and curriculum consultant Dr. Carole Haynes likened the practice to DEI, saying, "It's just the same thing over and over, they just call it different names." She went on to say this is another example of Critical Race Theory, which has been banned in Texas public schools.

So does that mean Texas students are safe from these "equitable grading" standards? Not necessarily. Both Dr. Haynes and Tietz warned that while there isn't a paper trail connecting any Texas ISDs to this practice, there's no way to be certain that this isn't being done under the table.

Dr. Haynes pointed to that as one of the biggest reasons that so many parents have either pulled their children out of public schools in recent years or joined the fight for universal school choice.

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