Florida governor now authority on textbooks

To The Eagle:

Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken a lead role nationally in Republican efforts to aggressively push back against liberal cultural values and what he calls “woke indoctrination.”

Part of that effort involves censoring children’s textbook choices. The “State,” ie: Ron DeSantis, is now the authority on “impermissible content” in kids textbooks.

The Sunshine State's Department of Education rejected 54 math textbooks mainly for elementary school students, citing concerns surrounding "impermissible content," like Critical Race Theory, of which we have heard much but seen little. That dept. is headed by State Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, whose principle qualification is that of a political puppet for Gov. DeSantis.

I’m not going to waste any time on research about this. I’ll just predict when the time comes to look at those books, and that issue; not a single one of those textbooks will have any mention of Critical Race Theory in them.

Historically, when Florida school districts reevaluate which math instructional materials they will use, they have had more than one publisher to choose from. Now, the only publisher approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education for K-5 mathematics is Accelerate Learning, a company out of Houston, Texas. No surprise there. That’s a lucrative contract steered and granted by DeSantis and his pet board of education.

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich said "We put our structure in place, so parents can pull their voices together and be heard and make a difference, and we are very excited to see the results of this in 2022 of the year of the parent, of what's going to happen at the ballot box."

That’s the whole point of this travesty. Use ultra right wing Republican front groups like the ironically named “Moms for Liberty,” to keep imaginary, inflammatory issues like Critical Race Theory front and center to give conservative voters something to hate, and vote against- even if it means limiting the choice, and compromising the quality, of their childrens’ textbooks.

J.B. Bouchard

Puget Island