PHOENIX — Multiple Republican lawmakers and State Superintendent Tom Horne want to see content creation organization PragerU in Arizona classrooms.
On Wednesday, Horne announced a partnership with PragerU, promising to put its videos and informational content on the state’s education website, as well as urging schools to adopt it as a part of their curriculum.
“Prager materials are rich in content and have a commitment to presenting facts to students to better understand history,” Horne said.
The organization is not an accredited higher education institution and is a self-described “free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education.”
PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said the organization does have a specific lens in which it presents content.
“We do have an ideological viewpoint and that is a patriotic, wholesome viewpoint,” Streit said. “We don’t support a political agenda. We support an ideological agenda.”
Horne’s endorsement has drawn criticism from other lawmakers and educational advocacy groups who accuse the video makers of pushing a specific political ideology.
“PragerU does not belong in Arizona schools,” Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, D-07, said in part. “It’s masquerading as a serious educational resource when in reality it’s unaccredited right-wing propaganda. Additionally, there are serious concerns regarding PragerU’s funding, which includes money routed from conservative billionaire donors, the oil and gas industry, and foreign interests. I share parent’s outrage that these entities would be permitted to push their agenda on our children through the guise of education.”
A group of parents and other PragerU supporters showed up outside the state Capitol building to cheer on the new partnership.
“I think that options are always good,” parent Cheryl Rosado said. “Parents need to know their options.”
Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia was disappointed to learn about the partnership.
“I’ve not heard from one teacher who wants this in their classroom and I taught civics and American history for 15 years,” Garcia said.
Garcia said she wants Horne to instead focus on more critical needs like teacher retention and growing class sizes.
“This is the complete opposite of why we have the common good with public education. We don’t need politicians involved in instruction,” Garcia said.
In a statement released Wednesday, Garcia also said "PragerU’s hyper-partisan and substandard materials have no place in our schools, and educators know that, as do the local school board members who make decisions about curricula. Superintendent Horne’s announcement won’t change much for Arizona’s students and teachers. But it will generate a round of headlines for him–which was, of course, the entire point."
Horne told reporters, “In some classrooms, only the extreme left side has been presented and so these [videos] present an alternative.”
Save Our Schools Arizona Director Beth Lewis disagrees and calls the PragerU content “dangerous.”
“I’m in classrooms all over the state. I see what educators are teaching,” Lewis said. “The things they’re being accused of are not happening. They’re teaching accurate, truthful science and history.”
