AIM Investigates: What you need to know about what was uncovered in Tennessee
January 27, 2025
Accuracy in Media released a hidden-camera video investigation in Tennessee.
There, Accuracy in Media investigators caught school administrators saying that they were still teaching Critical Race Theory. They might have changed the name to Social and Emotional Learning, or changed it once again from that, but the ideas and structures were exactly the same. That educational bureaucracy was just going to keep on doing the same whatever the parents of the legislature thought about it.
“This law was really well crafted and accomplishes nothing,” said Todd Wiggington, Metro Nashville’s director of instruction for K-12. “It does not keep us from teaching the history. So basically, we’re doing what we’ve been doing.”
Investigators heard more of the same from Kimberly Shurett, Director of Early Grades Academic Support.
“We’re business as usual in this district,” Shurette said. “We don’t really let anybody tell us what to do.”
The investigation got more than 500,000 views across several platforms, many of which were from Tennesseeans. The Knoxville Daily Sun, the Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Conservative and several other local outlets covered the video’s release. The National Review, PJ Media, and numerous other publications also covered the investigation.
In May 2022, the Tennessee State Supreme Court allowed an expansion of the voucher scheme to low- and middle-income students from two counties (Shelby County and Metro Nashville, where the school systems are at their worst). This doesn’t depend on special education needs — those who meet the income requirement can spend that state education budget at any school of their choice, including a private one. This is legislation that some Tennessee lawmakers have been trying to pass since 2019, but it has been tied up in court challenges.
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