Florida to ban 54 mathematics textbooks over critical race theory

This Friday, The Florida Education department made an announcement informing the ban of 54 mathematical textbooks. This ban is said to be due to critical race theory. The board cited references to justify their decision and rejection books as instructions material.

The commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran, approved this decision and passed a list of approved books for mathematical instructions. After a thorough search, the approved list was decided to ensure the material abides with Florida’s new standards and does not contain any restricted topics. The board informed that they rejected roughly 41% of books, which was 54 of the 132 submitted books.

The Florida Department of Education asked publishers to send their bids for mathematics instructional material that will be a part of the state's adopted list. Florida made it clear that all the submitted options should align with the new Benchmark For Excellent Student thinking (B.E.S.T) standard. Publishers are allowed to make changes in the submitted bids if the revision ultimately meets the instructions provided by Florida.


How many books were rejected by the Florida Education Board?

The complete breakdown is as follows-

• A total 78 out of 132 textbooks were approved
• 21% of the books or 28 textbooks were rejected over the inclusion of banned topics
• 9% of books or 12 books weren't removed because they weren't apt according to B.E.S.T standards.
• 14 (11%) are removed from the list because they fail to align with the set standard and contained many banned topics and unsolicited material including CRT.
• 71% of grade K-5 materials were removed.
• 20% of Grade 6-8 materials were rejected.
• 35% of grade 9-12 materials were rejected.

One of the issues raised by the boards also included social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL is often regarded as the “gateway” to the critical race theory concept. Many on the right point to programming focus on maintaining relationships and controlling emotions. Critical race theorists talk about how the legacy of racism continues to thrive due to the laws and policies that exist today.

Republican Gov- Ron Santis praised this move Richard Corcoran for this decision, and the whole education board of Florida, saying, "It looks like publishers were trying to put another layer of paint on the old house that was built based on similar core and concepts like essentialism of race" He also said that such indoctrinating concepts are bizarre for students who are not even in high school yet. Ron DeSantis also expressed his gratitude to the commissioner of education for conducting intense research and rejecting textbooks that do not adhere to the law.

Last June, when the department of education banned the teaching of critical race theory, DeSantis stood in support, saying this would ensure students don't learn "false history" that would "denigrate the Founding Fathers."

Lately, DeSantis has been backing a raft of conservative policies. He even pushed through the new abortion law and signed the controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill. DeSantis is currently one of the highest-profile conservative politicians and is also up for re-election this fall.

Richard Corcoran also said Florida would become a national leader in education under DeSantis. He also expects other states to follow Florida's example and focus on providing world-class education. He believes that this education system will be without fear of exposing children to dangerous and indoctrinating concepts in classrooms.

Democratic State Reps Anna Eskamani criticised state government leaders regarding this move. She said that she wouldn't be surprised if the Republican leaders of Florida banned Algebra for high school in their next move. She tweeted that the Republican leaders hate equal signs and solving problems.