Week in Review: A New Way to Fight Leftist Indoctrination

The stakes could hardly be higher: too many of America’s schools are failing to educate students about our nation’s founding principles.

This week, in collaboration with AAT Education, Goldwater’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy announced the development of a groundbreaking new United States history curriculum for high school students, as Goldwater continues to spearhead the nationwide charge to expand education options and banish radical, racial politics from the classroom.

Featuring the work of distinguished national scholars and scheduled for completion in 2025, the curriculum will include an off-the-shelf-ready suite of lesson plans, curated primary source readings, and supporting materials for public, private, and home-based schools and educators looking for an academically rich curriculum free from revisionism or political activism. The curriculum is being developed by AAT Education, a nonprofit that specializes in creating high-quality testing, teacher training, and curriculum resources.

“This new U.S. history curriculum will help revitalize students’ appreciation and understanding of the American republic, equipping teachers and parents to masterfully share our nation’s story with a new generation at a critical time,” says Goldwater’s Matt Beienburg, Director of Education Policy and Director of the Van Sittert Center.

As public schools indoctrinate students with toxic lies about America’s founding, parents are yearning for a curriculum that teaches their children the truth. The Goldwater Institute is answering the call.

Read more at In Defense of Liberty. 

Trapped

What if you joined a club or a church or a political group, only to find out that you could never leave—or stop paying membership dues?

It’s happening in Alaska with public-sector labor unions, so this week the Goldwater Institute filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to put a stop to these unconstitutional and manipulative union traps.

Sweetheart deals with the government have given Alaska’s public-sector unions unsupervised control over when workers can leave a union and, importantly, how those workers can stop the union from deducting dues out of their paychecks. These restrictions are designed to make it difficult for people to leave powerful labor organizations. But the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Janus decision makes it clear that “[t]he right to eschew association for expressive purposes is…protected” by the First Amendment.

In other words, under the U.S. Constitution, no one can be forced to be a union member, remain a union member, or pay union dues. And Goldwater attorneys are working nationwide to defend the constitutional right of all citizens to associate—or not associate—with whatever private organizations they choose.

Read more at In Defense of Liberty. 

AZ School Uses Children to Illegally Meddle in Election

A Phoenix-area public high school using children and taxpayer dollars to illegally meddle in politics?

“VOTE YES,” blares the Fountain Hills High School campaign ad explicitly urging residents to support a $25 million bond measure, as Goldwater Staff Attorney John Thorpe writes at In Defense of Liberty.

Arizona law prohibits school district resources from being used to influence elections. But much of the video appears to have been filmed on school time: during the school day, sports practices, and games. Even worse, it features dozens of junior-high and high-school students stumping for an election most of them aren’t even old enough to vote in.

Public schools have a duty to steward taxpayer resources for their intended purpose of educating students, not meddling in local politics. And when families send their children to a public school, they trust that the school will educate those children, not exploit them as political activists for a cause they (or their parents) may not agree with.

The Goldwater Institute will always fight, in Arizona and around the nation, to hold government institutions accountable, protect taxpayers from misuse of public resources, and keep politics out of public schools.

Find out more here.

Episode 2: How Does Free Speech Really Work?

How does free speech really work? In the second installment of the Foundations of Freedom video series, Goldwater Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur takes a deep dive into this crucial individual right by discussing the “marketplace of ideas” and today’s free speech debate, all while exploring what historical figures like John Milton, Ayn Rand, James Madison, and more had to say about free speech.

Watch the video here, and stay tuned for the next one!