Roasts, Critics and More Populates Lt. Gov. Robinson’s Task Force Submissions

In March, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson launched his very own right-wing outrage driven initiative dubbed F.A.C.T.S. (“Fairness and Accountability for Teachers and Students)”. Mirroring the controversial steps taken by Joe McCarthy, Robinson touts the task force’s website as a tool to snuff out indoctrination that is occurring in North Carolina’s classrooms. 

As one veteran public school teacher’s blog puts it, “if you see any smoke, it’s more likely from the copious roasts of the F.A.C.T.S. project and Robinson’s extreme politics that have been submitted through the portal”.

The 500+ submissions to the F.A.C.T.S. Task Force from the public through July 14, provided little evidence of what Robinson claims as “indoctrination”, according to our analysis. 

Progress NC Action looked at all of the comments submitted to the task force and categorized each comment as either:

ON TOPIC – the comment contained reports of incidents requested by the form

AGAINST – the comment demonstrated opposition to the task force itself

OFF TOPIC – the comment was nonsensical, dealing with private schools, colleges, or charter schools, or just indicated their general dislike of anything perceived as “liberal”.

Below is our final analysis of the 500+ submissions:

Many submissions call out Robinson’s dedication to a political witch hunt over addressing the real issues facing students and educators across the state. 

Below are just a few submissions: 

• Comment #452: “How about making it so all children have access to quality education and the resources needed to be successful rather than lambast teachers trying to include people from ALL WALKS OF LIFE in their curricula?”
  
• Comment #63: “I send my daughter to NC Public Schools in hopes that she will be taught a genuine reflection of her state and nation’s history, and not a whitewashed/glossed over approximation that seeks to protect those in the seats of power from experiencing any discomfort.”
  
• Comment #285: “I would much prefer that the F.A.C.T.S. task force spend their time spotlighting teachers who are tirelessly working to go above and beyond to educate their students.”
• Comment #26: “NC has amazing teachers! Your task force should spend your time helping children and schools, like teachers do”.
  
• Comment #276: “Lt. Gov. Robinson is engaging in indoctrination by engaging in a fishing expedition to play up spurious claims to support his warped narrative on the public schools”.
  
• Comment #45: “I submit the concern and complaint that the very formation of this committee is a dangerous step toward indoctrination within our public school system”.
  
• Comment #156: “I love America, but I think the lack of teaching multiple perspectives in our history causes students to resent our great country. If we teach students multiple perspectives, we can learn from our history and prevent the negative aspects from re-occurring”.

Not surprisingly, Robinson’s released report from last month cherry picks the few submissions that uplift his witch hunt effort over presenting the many submissions that criticize Robinson for even forming the task force in the first place. 

Bottom Line:

With Lt. Gov. Robinson’s task force, the pattern continues with yet another GOP leader pushing harmful measures and controversies at the expense of North Carolina families, educators and students.

It’s time for leaders like Robinson to stop the sideshows and racialized fearmongering to distract from their continued effort to underfund K-12 public education. With federal funding and an additional $6.5 billion in state revenues to spend, let’s focus on ensuring each classroom has resources and every student has access to a sound basic education that positions them, and our state, to succeed.