Employees at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services will no longer be required to take the âKnowing Who You Areâ critical race theory courses after the program was exposed two weeks ago by Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines.
Up until now, completing the course has been a required condition of employment with DFPS and its sub-agencies.
A source at DFPS sent Texas Scorecard a screenshot of the email that went to all Child Protective Service employees earlier today from Erica Bañuelos, the director of field operations. CPS is a sub-agency of DFPS, which is controlled by the office of Gov. Greg Abbott.
âThe courses âKnowing Who You Are – 0003578â and âKnowing Who You Are V2 – 0003903,â are no longer being offered by the agency; therefore, these courses are no longer a requirement for promotion on the CPS career plan,â wrote Bañuelos. âPlease note that staff no longer need to submit a deferment request for these courses. All FPS staff with pending deferments for âKnowing Who You Are 0003578â and âKnowing Who You Are V2 – 0003903â will be forgiven.â
Two weeks ago, Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines exposed the heavy influence of critical race theory at DFPS, specifically mentioning the âKnowing Who You Areâ materials.
The courses have been described by CPS employees as intense indoctrination, in which white Texans are universally labeled as racists while black Texans are treated as victims. The courses were described by sources within the agency as being full of Marxist ideology, and employees had been required to agree with acknowledging institutional racism and white privilege and commit to being social justice warriors in their government employment.
A DFPS website describes the training as being part of the agencyâs push to address âdisproportionality,â which is defined as âthe overrepresentation of a group of people in a program or system.â
Several months ago, exposure by Huffinesâ campaign forced Abbottâs agency to remove pro-transgender materials.
Huffines said he is pleased by the âpositive development, but we must demand accountability from Greg Abbott and his appointees for the class being required in the first place.â
âMy campaign is about leadershipâno excusesâwhich is obviously not what we have in the governorâs office right now,â added Huffines. âGreg Abbott is a failed leader who has broken his promises on securing the Texas border, safeguarding our elections, and protecting our tax dollars from funding critical race theory and transgender ideology. I look forward to continuing to rally Texans around my campaign to put an actual Republican in the governorâs office.â
A request for comment from DFPSâ media relations department has not be returned.