Hillsdale has faced continuing accusations that its charter school initiative is designed to teach a whitewashed view of American history. Lee has characterized Hillsdale's approach as offering a "patriotic" perspective.

"To teach history, you've got to teach the whole history," Garland said. "You've got to teach a little bit about slavery, you've got to teach a little bit about lynching, all of that stuff is going to have to be incorporated if you are going to teach real history."