Florida’s Department of Education has rejected 41% of submitted textbooks for including CRT teachings.
Florida’s Department of Education (DOE) rejected 41% of mathematics textbooks submitted for use in the state’s public schools Friday, citing critical race theory and other issues with the texts.
Governor Ron DeSantis has worked to eliminate Common Core and has denounced CRT in schools. He was questioned about the move at a news conference in Jacksonville Monday.
“Math is about getting the right answer, and we want kids to learn to think so they can get the right answer, it’s not about how you feel about the problem or to introduce some of these other things,” DeSantis said.
The state’s DOE called for textbook submissions in 2021 that was in accordance with Governor DeSantis’s 2019 Executive Order 19-32. This order took aim at reforming school curricula, primarily eliminating Commo Core standards and CRT. The textbooks rejected “were impermissible with either Florida’s new standards or contained prohibited topics.”
The 41% rejection rate was the highest in the state’s history.
“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 a statement accompanying the announcement. “I’m grateful that Commissioner Corcoran and his team at the Department have conducted such a thorough vetting of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law.”
For grades K-12, Florida is initially not including 54 of the 132 (41%) submitted math textbooks on the state’s adopted list.
“We’re going to guarantee that Florida has the highest-quality educational materials aligned to our nationally-recognized standards,” Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran mentioned in an announcement. “Florida has turned out to be a national chief in schooling underneath the imaginative and prescient leadership of Governor DeSantis. When it involves training, other states continue to observe Florida’s lead as we proceed to reinforce parents’ rights by specializing in providing their youngsters with world-class schooling without the concern of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive ideas in our classrooms.”
“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,” The Department stated.
