The Florida Department of Education (DOE) has rejected fifty-four math textbooks, striking them from consideration for the school system’s curriculum.
On April 15, the agency announced it removed textbooks that raised concerns about critical race theory (CRT) and did not meet the state’s educational standards.
A news release said that fifty-four of the 132 potential books would not make it into the state’s curriculum list. This translates to a rejection rate of 41%, the highest in Florida state history.
While concerns over the inclusion of CRT concepts were cited in the reasoning for the rejections, the department also said that some textbooks were banned because they included Common Core principles or references to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics.
Twenty-eight of the rejections contained prohibited content, such as CRT. An additional twelve books were rejected because they did not comply with the state’s benchmark standards. Lastly, fourteen were banned because they both did not meet the criteria and included prohibited content.
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has led a movement to change the state’s education standards and methods. Under a 2019 executive order from DeSantis to abolish Common Core requirements in Florida, the state requested textbook submissions in 2021.
In a statement responding to the rejection of the textbooks, DeSantis said, “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.”
The governor also thanked the DOE for thoroughly vetting the textbooks to ensure their compliance with the new standards.
The DOE clarified that publishers were welcome to appeal if their book was rejected. In addition, the department said that at least one book is approved for use in every math course for every grade.
Democratic leaders throughout the state were quick to voice their concern over the historically high number of rejections.
U.S. Florida Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith called out the department via Twitter for not listing the names of the books and claimed that DeSantis “has turned our classrooms into political battlefields.”
.@EducationFL just announced they're banning dozens of math textbooks they claim "indoctrinate" students with CRT. 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. ?? pic.twitter.com/AliAGRDJIW
— Senator-elect Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) April 15, 2022