A decade-long educational program that used musical theater to teach American history has faced censorship in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) following a complaint about costume authenticity, leading to the program's intellectual property being acquired by the Texas Education Agency. The program, developed by retired teacher Jeff Lantos, originated in 1995 when Lantos began writing musicals to engage his fifth-grade students in subjects like the Constitutional Convention.
Initially piloted in 1996 at Marquez Elementary School, the "Performing History" program expanded to include multiple fifth-grade classes, with students performing original shows such as "Miracle in Philadelphia," "Hello Louisiana," and "Water and Power." A UCLA study in 2002 indicated that students who participated in the program scored more than twice as high on standardized U.S. history tests a year later compared to their peers from other schools. Lantos continued to support the program part-time after retiring in 2016, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The situation shifted in spring 2024 when Lantos was contacted by LAUSD administrators from the "American Indian/Alaskan Native and Indigenous Education Program." He was questioned about his Native American heritage and whether he had consulted with tribal nations depicted in the musical "Hello Louisiana," which focuses on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The inquiry stemmed from a complaint by an individual in South Dakota who viewed a YouTube video of a dance number and deemed the Lakota Sioux costumes inauthentic.
Following a review, LAUSD administrators demanded significant cuts and rewrites to all three scripts. Lantos was informed he would not be involved in the rewrite process, as he was no longer a district employee, and was barred from the campus until the revisions were approved. This process delayed rehearsals, preventing the class of 2026 from performing "Water and Power," a musical about the industrial revolution in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Shortly thereafter, Lantos received a call from Mike Morath, the Texas commissioner of education, who expressed interest in acquiring the program's intellectual property. After navigating the Texas procurement process, Lantos signed a contract in July. As a result, the musicals are slated to be introduced in fifth-grade classrooms across Texas, in cities including Midland, Austin, and Dallas. "Censored in Los Angeles. Welcomed in Texas. Go figure," Lantos remarked.