Florida Rejects Math Textbooks for Allegedly Promoting Critical Race Theory
54 books were prohibited from circulation.
In a statement released today, the Florida Department of Education announced that 132 new textbooks submitted for review, 54 of them were rejected for allegedly promoting topics that have been banned in Florida schools. This includes the use of common core concepts, which were banned in 2020, and critical race theory, which was banned in 2021. The majority of the rejected materials were intended for students from kindergarten to grade five, though the names of the rejected books and the precise means by which they violated these bans have not been disclosed.
“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,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on the matter.
Multiple Florida representatives and lawmakers have spoken out against this rejection, demanding to know precisely what the books contain that was found objectionable.
Florida officials have blocked 54 math textbook from its K-12 curriculum, claiming some of them contain "critical race theory."
The rejected titles make up a record 41% of the books submitted for review.https://t.co/d3t5V6Jo3T
— NPR (@NPR) April 18, 2022
“@EducationFL just announced they’re banning dozens of math textbooks they claim ‘indoctrinate’ students with CRT,” tweeted Florida House Representative Carlos Smith. “They won’t tell us what they are or what they say b/c it’s a lie. #DeSantis has turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning.”
“I get it. The goal of math is to solve problems which the Republican Party of Florida doesn’t like to do,” tweeted Florida State House Member Anna Eskamani.