Parents, educators and activists discussed critical race theory and educational equity in schools on Thursday during a public hearing held by the Utah State Board of Education.

The hearing, which took place in Salt Lake City, centered around a recently approved rule that dictates how educators should approach sensitive subjects like race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The rule, which the state school board approved on June 3, emphasizes the importance of “acknowledging differences by looking for the good in everyone, including oneself, and showing due regard for feelings, rights, cultures, and traditions,” as well as “collaborating with diverse community members to understand, recognize and appreciate what we all have in common as humans” and “implementing principles and strategies of inclusion, as they pertain to students and educators with diverse abilities and backgrounds.”

School officials drafted the rule in response to a pair of resolutions passed by the Utah State Legislature in May that identify the “risks” of critical race theory in public education, and amid a heated culture war at the national level over CRT, which is not taught in Utah’s public K-12 schools.

The school board heard from both sides of the issue during Thursday’s public hearing, which was packed with groups that requested the hearing, including the Academic Integrity Movement, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Utah Education Association, Utah Ethnic Studies Coalition and Utah Citizens for Positive Change.

Jessica Fiveash, executive director of the Academic Integrity Movement, which opposes the rule, said the rule goes against the intent of the Legislature’s resolutions, which recommend that no curriculum teach that “one race is inherently superior or inferior to another race,” that an individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or that “an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race.”

“The real problem is the rule claims to ban CRT, but actually promotes educational equity in schools. These two ideologies just reinforce each other,” said Fiveash, who recommended that the school board re-draft the rule and establish an advisory committee “representative of local parent groups to balance the prevailing mindset and outside influence” in Utah education.

Granite School District parent Sophia Anderson complained that “the proponents of CRT are robbing our children, and specifically minority children, of the priceless gifts that are natural byproducts of success that is achieved by merit, not staged victimhood.”

Another opponent to the educational equity rule stood outside the meeting holding signs reading “No white tax dollars for anti-white schools” and “It’s not about race or ‘equity,’ it’s about communist radical takeover of America.”

Most of the groups that spoke during the public hearing said they generally supported the educational equity rule but believed it should be tweaked to better protect teachers from harassment.

“We must find age-appropriate ways to tell hard truths about our state and our country’s past, and present, in order to prepare our kids to create a better future,” said Utah Education Association President Heidi Matthews. “We must insist that the professional learning of our educators in Utah aligns and supports these values and goals.”

Matthews also criticized opponents of the educational equity rule, noting that “it is by the design of a very well-funded and coordinated campaign to cause the beautiful words of equity to be questioned, to be hijacked.”

“Those who are perpetuating this misinformation are causing teachers to be fearful, hesitant and confused about how they can teach history in a truthful, fact-based way,” added Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay.

Several people who signed up were unable to make comments during the public hearing due to time restraints.

“I find it very funny that you’ve let all these white people and Black liberals speak, but you didn’t allow the floor for a Black conservative to voice his opinion,” one man complained.

Ben Rasmussen of the Utah State Board of Education encouraged those who didn’t get a chance to speak to email written comments to rule.comments@schools.utah.gov before July 30.