A screenshot from a PraegerU video.
PragerU, the right-wing advocacy group that produces videos aimed at schoolchildren, is now the subject of controversy in the Big Sky state, following its registration as a "bonded textbook dealer" with the Montana Office of Public Instruction, according to the Montana Free Press (October 6, 2023).
Jack Kirkley of the University of Montana Western told the Montana Free Press that he first learned about PragerU's videos from NCSE's monthly newsletter. Investigating, he found videos offering "characterizations of green energy and climate change that, as an educator and scientist, Kirkley found troubling. He described one that focused on how birds — Kirkley's professional speciality — are negatively impacted by wind turbines. In his view, the lesson overstated those impacts when compared to the mortality rates caused by roads, cell towers and lead poisoning." Kirkley added, "It's a sociopolitical spin that they have here, and they don't hide it."
Endorsement of PragerU's videos elicited concern in Florida in August 2023 and in Oklahoma in September 2023, as NCSE previously reported; in August 2023, there was a spurious claim of endorsement in Texas on part of a member of the state board of education, as NCSE previously reported.
