TN Court of Appeals allows partial revival of lawsuit against Williamson County Schools curriculum
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A lawsuit filed against the Williamson County School Board in 2022 has new life after the Tennessee Court of Appeals partially reversed its dismissal.
The lawsuit was brought by Parents’ Choice Tennessee, a nonprofit group that advocates for “protecting the parents of Williamson County schoolchildren of all ages from harmful and age-inappropriate content.” The initial filing was against the Williamson County School Board’s adoption and implementation of curriculum they argued violated state laws against teaching “divisive concepts” like Critical Race Theory and Common Core.
At issue was the Wit & Wisdom curriculum, which Parents’ Choice said, “Promote a skewed and racist view of history and portrays one race as inherently superior to another, or inherently privileged and oppressive.”
During the trial phase, the Williamson County Chancery Court dismissed the lawsuit on two “justiciability” grounds, stating the organization and parents listed as plaintiffs lacked standing to sue and had not gone through proper administrative routes before resorting to legal action.
In his ruling, Justice Jeffrey Usman said the Chancery Court was wrong in saying they lacked standing to sue, but also affirmed the Chancery Court’s dismissal for “failure to exhaust administrative remedies.”
The opinion states the parents do have standing to sue, and therefore so does Parents’ Choice Tennessee, reversing the trial court’s ruling on that claim.
“This is an important victory for parental rights in education in Tennessee,” Attorney for Parents’ Choice Larry Crain said in a statement. “The court has paved the way for these parents and for their group, Parents’ Choice, to now vigorously enforce the state law prohibiting the teaching of Common Core curriculum. We look forward to applying this important ruling to other school systems around the state.”
In a statement provided to News 2, Williamson County Schools Executive Director of Communications Carol Birdsong said the district was prepared to continue fighting the lawsuit.
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“We are pleased that the court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the prohibited concepts claims. As to the single claim that was remanded to the trial court, the court of appeals has not decided that plaintiffs prevail on the merits of that claim, but has just made a threshold ruling that they have the legal standing to proceed. We will continue to vigorously defend the case at the trial court,” she said.
The full order can be viewed here.
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