The Florida Department of Education has been scouring educational materials to make sure Florida students are not being “subjected” to lessons in line with critical race theory.
Now, the Florida department has issued a statement that fifty-four math textbooks that were part of the curriculum were attempting to “indoctrinate” students. Now, the department has BANNED these math books because they have references to critical race theory – CRT.
Of the one hundred thirty-two math books that were submitted for next year’s academic curriculum, the Florida department forbid schools from using forty-one percent of the books. They claimed that these textbooks were not “aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies,” according to the statement from the Department of Education shared on Friday.
“Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics,” the department said. Florida has banned all three learning practices in the state.
“The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies.”
Critical race theory was banned in Florida by the state’s conservative Governor Ron DeSantis, who is competing against Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump for the top spot in the Republican Party.
“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” DeSantis said in support of banning math books in Florida’s fleet of public schools. “I’m grateful that Commissioner [of Education Richard] Corcoran and his team at the Department have conducted such a thorough vetting of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law.”
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran claimed that the educational books were banned for not being aligned with Florida’s conservative educational goals.
“We’re going to ensure that Florida has the highest-quality instructional materials aligned to our nationally-recognized standards,” said Corcoran. “Florida has become a national leader in education under the vision and leadership of Governor DeSantis. When it comes to education, other states continue to follow Florida’s lead as we continue to reinforce parents’ rights by focusing on providing their children with a world-class education without the fear of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive concepts in our classrooms.”
Corcoran wants publishers to remember Florida’s educational rules when creating content for students.
Florida’s DOE added, “It is unfortunate that several publishers, especially at the elementary school grade levels, have ignored this clear communication and have attempted to slip rebranded instructional materials based on Common Core Standards into Florida’s classrooms, while others have included prohibited and divisive concepts such as the tenants of CRT or other unsolicited strategies of indoctrination – despite FDOE’s prior notification.”