The Florida Department of Education has rejected 54 math books for containing “prohibited topics” like references to critical race theory, calling it an “alarming” discovery that violates the state’s education standards.
“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,” a news release Friday stated.
The department said 28 textbooks had been bumped because they incorporate “prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies.”
“The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards,” the release stated.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised the decision.
“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,” he said in the news release.
DeSantis has insisted students should be taught basic subjects in school free of ideological messaging.
CRT was banned from Florida classrooms by the state’s Board of Education in June 2021.
One Broward school board member was troubled by the state DOE decision, warning it was “heading in a direction where if any text is inclusive of the diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds that make up our state they’re considering it ‘indoctrination’ and CRT.”
“It’s disturbing, borderline authoritarian, and definitely censorship,” Sarah Leonardi said, the Sun Sentinal reported. “Notably, it denies the existence of much of our student population. If state leadership made decisions with children in mind, they wouldn’t be engaging in these fallacious culture wars at all.”
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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