Report: Schools Promote Marxism, CRT and Antisemitism

A report released last month by a House committee exposed the National Education Association (NEA) and schools promoting Marxism, critical race theory, antisemitism and other radical ideologies to K-12 students. 

The House Committee on Education & Workforce released the report, “Antisemitism in K-12 Schools,” in October 2026. The committee investigated the NEA and two school districts, School District of Philadelphia and Berkeley Unified School District. 

Unsurprisingly, legacy mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and national network newscasts ignored the report.

In a press release, the Education Committee listed some of what the report documents: 

• Philadelphia schools taught lessons excusing violence: A world history assignment asks students to honor a resistance movement, listing a Hamas-endorsed campaign as an option. Another lesson asks students to label the United States and Israel as terrorists.

• Berkeley lessons erase Israel from the map: An ethnic studies unit features a map labeling Israel as “Palestine” and praises figures with histories of antisemitic remarks.

• The NEA bankrolls groups pushing antisemitic materials: Since October 7, 2023, the union has pledged thousands of dollars to Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project, which the Committee identified as sources of antisemitic K-12 materials.

The report gives other examples of extremist ideologies from the NEA and these two school districts. 

School District of Philadelphia (SDP)

• The district used curriculums and resources from the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, a group organized by SDP employees. The group has “Ten Demands,” some of which are reasonable, but also include abolishing school police officers; affirming “trans, queer, and gender non-conforming students and staff”; and mandating “antiracist training for all educators and that school leaders.” 

• Philadelphia students were taught about “intersectionality,” a concept from critical race theory. Students had to color-code aspects of their identities as “dominant” or “oppressed,” then share them with the class. They were taught “‘dominant’ identities include males, white people, and Christians, while ‘oppressed’ identities include black people, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and ‘non-Christians.’”

• Students were introduced to videos including “The White Supremacy of Being Asked Where I’m From” and “a video about gender and sexuality that taught students about ‘zi/zir/zim’ and ‘xi/xir/xim’ pronouns.” 

• “Second grade students learn about ‘environmental justice,’ climate activism, and ‘the impact of bias, injustice, and privilege on a global scale.’”

Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) 

• “BUSD’s ‘liberated’ ninth-grade Arab American Studies unit features an ‘ancestor acknowledgment’ of Helen Thomas, a journalist who resigned after saying that Jews should ‘get the hell out of Palestine’ and ‘go home’ to Poland and Germany.”

• A social studies unit for fifth graders includes “a lesson on ‘The Declaration of Independence and Road to Revolution’ that claims the term ‘Founding Fathers’ is ‘harmful because it does not acknowledge the Indigenous communities who lived here before colonization.’ ‘These “founding fathers” also created and upheld systems of racial and gender inequality,’ the lesson adds.” 

• The district hid lessons from parents, including one that claimed “from the river to the sea” can be a “call for freedom and peace.” On the contrary, the chant calls for the elimination of Israel and the genocide of Jews living there. 

National Education Association (NEA)

• “At the NEA’s 2024 Conference on Racial and Social Justice, the conference’s session on antisemitism focused on the ways in which antisemitism is ‘weaponized’ by ‘white nationalist movements.’” 

• “The NEA has pledged thousands of dollars to Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project, even as these groups are lead purveyors of antisemitic content in K-12 schools.” The Zinn Education Project puts forward a demonstrably false, plagiarized, Marxist, anti-American view of history.

• “In 2024, the NEA implemented a resolution directing the association to highlight efforts to combat antisemitism ‘in education settings’ by hosting a webinar about white nationalism. The webinar also addressed ‘Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-Asian hate across the nation that is fueling white nationalist movements.’” 

The report documents all its findings about radical ideologies in public schools, with more than 1,500 pages of examples from the National Education Association, the School District of Philadelphia and Berkeley Unified School District.  

Representative Tim Walberg, who chaired the committee, said of the report: 

Parents send their children to school to learn reading, writing, and math – not to be taught to hate Israel or embrace radical political causes. Yet that’s exactly the kind of material our investigation uncovered. 

Jewish students deserve to feel safe in their classrooms, and parents deserve to know what their children are being taught. Schools that receive taxpayer dollars must be held accountable when they fail to protect students from antisemitism.

Parents should be aware: These hateful, radical ideologies are not just in Philadelphia and Berkeley schools, as the Daily Citizen has reported many times, they’re being taught across the country. 

When you send your child to a public school, you are giving the school authority to act as a temporary guardian for your child, taking on decision making, responsibility and custody. This gives schools a lot of power over the education of your child.

Focus on the Family’s “Equipping Parents for Back-to-School” helps parents be aware of what’s happening in the classroom and empowers them to advocate for their children in school. The free, downloadable resource also offers insights into exercising school choice and protecting children’s free speech and religious liberty.

Related articles and resources: 

BLM at School Week – Indoctrinating and Training Radical Activist Children

‘Critical Social Justice’ in Education – If it Can Happen in Idaho, It Can Happen Anywhere

Cynthia Tobias – ‘Reclaiming Education: Teach Your Child to Be a Confident Learner’

Department of Education Blew $1 Billion on DEI – Here’s Why It Matters

The Destruction of American History and the Cult of Howard Zinn

Educators, Parents and Students Rally to Support National School Choice Week

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Media Dishonest About Battles Over Critical Race Theory in Schools

Monique Duson: Responding to Critical Race Theory with Grace and Truth

The National Education Association Wants to Indoctrinate Children Across the Country

NEA Subverts Parents, Says Teachers Know ‘Better Than Anyone’ What Students Need

Teachers Unions Push Critical Race Theory – Then Deny It

Trump Ends Radical Indoctrination, Promotes Education Freedom

What’s Happening in Schools? Why We Need Educational Freedom