TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Education rejected more than 50 math books that allegedly contained ‘prohibited topics’ including critical race theory, common core and social-emotional learning, our sister station WKMG reports.
Of the 132 submitted textbooks that were submitted, 54 were not included on the state’s adopted list, according to an FDOE news release Friday.
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Officials claim that publishers were trying to indoctrinate students with nearly 41% of the submitted textbooks including references to critical race theory, common core and social-emotional learning. Grades K-5 had the highest number of rejected books, according to the state.
“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, bizarrely, for elementary students,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement. “I’m grateful that Commissioner (Richard) Corcoran and his team at the Department have conducted such a thorough vetting of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law.”
According to the education department, textbooks are reviewed by subject every five years and must meet B.E.S.T Standards, which stands for Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking. Now, education officials will review social studies.
WKMG reached out to the governor’s spokesperson Christina Pushaw for a statement.
“The governor’s position is that all instructional materials used in Florida schools need to be aligned with state standards (BEST),” Pushaw said. “This is not only a matter of ensuring that textbooks are free of critical race theory ideology, but also ending common core, which is a whole separate issue from CRT. Common core is used in some math textbooks, and those would not be aligned to Florida’s BEST standards.”