CA Dept of Educ tries censoring researcher who criticized Covid school shutdowns

Stanford prof and Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Dee filed a brief as part of a 2020 lawsuit that analyzes how California's school closures hurt vulnerable student groups. But the State's Dept of Education claims—perhaps unconstitutionally—that Dee can't use public data to litigate against them. The Free Beacon reports.

California has threatened a Stanford University researcher with a lawsuit and up to $50,000 in fines after he testified on behalf of poor families suing the state over pandemic school closures.

Thomas Dee, who has studied academic outcomes for 11 years at Stanford, submitted testimony last month in support of the families’ claims in a 2020 lawsuit that the state harmed vulnerable children when they shut down classrooms and effectively stalled instruction. Within days, the California Department of Education sent him a letter claiming that because he works with taxpayer-funded data from the agency, he could not criticize the state in court.

The agency alleged in its letter that he breached an agreement he signed on behalf of a Stanford research project that uses state data, and has warned that they may yank the project’s access and fine Dee $50,000 unless he immediately works to "mitigate further damage." Dee said in court documents that the agreement is completely separate from the testimony he offered for the lawsuit.

"It’s a gag order," said Williamson Evers, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland and a former federal education official under President George W. Bush. He added that it’s "extreme" for the state to try to hold public data hostage in order to control what researchers say.

California’s push to suppress unflattering testimony about its longest-in-the-nation school shutdowns comes amid mounting evidence that closures were disastrous for students.

This article originally appeared in the Washington Free Beacon. Read the whole thing here.

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