Thread by @JeffreyASachs

ICYMI: Education gag orders (aka "anti-CRT bills") around the country increasingly include a private right of action. In eight separate bills, as well as one law(!), private citizens have the right to sue a school for discussing race or sex the wrong way.

pen.org/stop-woke-act-…

Some of the bills limit suits to parties directly "injured" by a school. In others, any resident of a state or even the country would be eligible to sue. And the amount of money that courts would be permitted to award can be staggering.

All of which creates some very perverse incentives. After New Hampshire passed its education gag order last June, the conservative group Moms for Liberty announced it would pay a $500 bounty for information leading to a successful suit.

nhpr.org/nh-news/2021-1…

In response, Gov. Sununu condemned the group and stated that "any sort of financial incentive is wholly inappropriate and has no place." But what did he think would happen? Dangle a pot of cash in front of people's faces and this is what you get.

I couldn't even fit all the examples in this article. For instance, this Oklahoma bill would let parents sue a school for stocking certain books about sex and sexuality, with potential awards of $10k+ per day.

webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22…

Madness. A madness that, at is core, is about putting the paralyzing fear of god into teachers, school districts, and local officials. It's also about transforming schools into regimes of round-the-clock surveillance.

Come the new year, a wave of such bills will crash into state legislatures across the country. Many present themselves in the guise of so-called "Parents' Bills of Rights", but don't be fooled. They are about fear.