Florida education officials have dismissed a slew of math textbooks they say attempt to indoctrinate students through the inclusion of critical race theory and other prohibited topics, officials said Friday.
The department rejected 41% of submissions from publishers due to various reasons including references to critical race theory” and adherence to federal Common Core standards.
“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,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a statement.
In 2021, the Florida Department of Education invited publishers to submit math materials for use throughout the state’s public schools.
According to the department, twenty-one percent of the rejected textbooks were not accepted because they include forbidden topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT.
Gov. Ron DeSantis previously banned CRT as a curricular component in Florida schools, arguing that it promotes a corrosive fixation on racial differences and minimizes individual agency.
“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” DeSantis said in announcing the legislation in 2021.
Backers of CRT believe that U.S schools do not focus enough on America’s turbulent racial history and that students should be exposed to it.
DOE Commissioner Richard Corcoran issued a statement on Friday saying publishers were told not to skirt Florida’s curricular standards in advance.
The state’s approach seeks to provide “children with a world-class education without the fear of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive concepts in our classrooms,” Corcoran said in a statement.
The DOE also rejected math textbooks that did not align solely to the subject and veered into other areas like emotional welfare and lessons on social interaction.
“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,” DeSantis said.
The department rejected 54 of 132 total submissions.
