While many opponents to Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) think the Florida governor is all talk and no action in this "culture war," detractors are in for a rude awakening. The Florida Department of Education has reportedly started removing "woke content" from Florida public school textbooks.
In the state of Florida, and nationally, schooling and parental rights have become a forefront issue for conservative voters. With the rise of Critical Race Theory and LGBTQ awareness, conservative voters have largely been upset with the country's public school system.
Virginia was first to make this need apparent in their gubernatorial special election, where most analysts credit Governor Glenn Youngkin's (R-VA) victory to his stance on schooling. Then came Florida with the Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the, "Don't Say Gay," bill.
Now, Florida is going a step further with editing state-wide textbooks. The Florida Department of Education announced this week that, "publishers are aligning their instructional materials to state standards and removing woke content allowing the department of education to add 19 more books to the state adoption list over the past 17 days."
Some of the exercises singled out by the FLDOE include graphics showing racial prejudice by age group and political affiliation, as well as a “social and emotional learning” instructive unit “designed to build student agency by focusing on students’ social and emotional learning.”
In total, 40% of math textbooks alone were rejected for publication, as they did not fit new state standards.
Gov. DeSantis has made schooling a top priority for his administration, even relabeling Florida the, "Education state." Earlier this Spring, DeSantis eliminated FSA testing for a practice known as, "progress monitoring," a practice where public school students no longer have one final exam, and have the chance to prove their progress over an entire school year.
