Pennsylvania’s Department of Education will no longer mandate school districts to follow the Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education, or CR-SE, guidelines that were issued in late 2022, following the settlement of a lawsuit from three school districts, including Mars Area School District.

The settlement took place on Oct. 22 in front of Judge Bonnie B. Leadbetter, and was announced publicly in a news release from state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, R-12th, on Thursday, Nov. 14. It reads that all school entities of all kinds — from public schools to charter schools — “... have no legal obligation to implement or comply with the CR-SE Program Framework Guidelines.”

However, the settlement still “encourages, but does not require” school districts to implement the guidelines into their plans going forward.

“We are incredibly pleased with this settlement agreement,” said Tom Breth, solicitor for the Mars Area School District. “(This is) an important victory for Pennsylvania parents, students and teachers.”

The CR-SE guidelines are a set of standards for educator training that were formalized in Title 22, Chapter 49 of the Pennsylvania Code. Prior to the outcome of the lawsuit, schools were required to integrate CR-SE instruction into educator preparation and induction programs no later than the 2024-25 school year.

The Pennsylvania Code defines Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education as, “Education that ensures equity for all students and seeks to eliminate systemic institutional racial and cultural barriers that inhibit the success of all students in this Commonwealth, particularly those who have been historically underrepresented.”

The framework guidelines for educators consist of nine competencies, including “Reflect on One’s Cultural Lens” and “Promote Asset-based Perspectives about Differences.”

The Mars Area School District, along with two other school districts in Western Pennsylvania and a group of parents, filed suit against the state Department of Education in April 2023, with Butler County law firm Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter & Graham representing the plaintiffs.

“We live in America. Our government can’t tell us what we have to believe or not believe,” Breth said.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit criticized the guidelines as an attempt to push an “agenda” onto teachers, students and schools.

“Pennsylvania’s CR-SE guidelines sought to mandate that educators affirm and impose on their students’ highly ideological beliefs about contentious social and political issues,” said Breth, on behalf of the school district.

“These guidelines were developed to help educators create an inclusive learning environment for all students,” said Erin James, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The original text of the lawsuit criticized the guidelines as “vague, ambiguous, overly broad, not clearly defined, not objectively measurable” and “incapable of equitable, unbiased, objective enforcement or application.”

The text of the lawsuit also pointed out sections of the law that implied state funding could be withheld from school districts that do not comply fully with the guidelines.

“This is a major victory for teachers, students and parents in our great commonwealth,” said Scialabba, who is also a lawyer at the firm and participated in the lawsuit. “It is a relief to know school entities no longer need to fear loss of funding over these standards. Today’s result is a win for the First Amendment and reaffirms the conservative commitment to providing students with a quality, no-nonsense, factual education that is free of ideology. I am overjoyed to see this result.”

“We felt as though the regulations infringed on the rights of teachers and students, so we’re pleased with the result,” said school board member Kevin Hagen.

James says that the Department of Education will be contacting school districts in the coming days with new guidance.

The other petitioners in the lawsuit were Laurel School District, in Lawrence County, and Penncrest School District, in Crawford County.