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As the new semester began, teachers across Florida faced new state laws severely restricting curricula, prompting schools to remove dozens of books from their classrooms and libraries for fear of violating the draconian but opaque new laws. The already frightening reality gripping the third most populous state is getting even colder with the passage of controversial laws such as the Don’t Say Gay Bill and the Stop, Wake Up Act, which went into effect in July 2022.
These prohibitions, Butler argues, do the very ideological work they are supposed to do in the name of “free” thought.
In January 2023, the DeSantis administration launched several initiatives to remove wide layers of the existing curriculum, including a ban on teaching Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies to high school students across Florida. The initiatives also required public colleges and universities to detail any costs associated with diversity, equality and inclusion or critical racial initiatives, including a list of any programs, staff or courses that may qualify.
In a January 12 letter to the Board of Nonprofit Colleges that oversees Advanced Placement courses, the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation defended its decision to ban a high school course in the state of Florida, arguing that the AP African American Studies course “inexplicably contravenes Florida law and has no educational values.”
One South Florida teacher, who requested anonymity, criticized DeSantis’ policies, citing his displays of hostility towards blacks in Florida and excerpts from a book written by DeSantis in 2011 in which he defends slavery, criticizes Thurgood Marshall’s arguments, and falsely claims, that the Three-Fifths Compromise benefited anti-slavery states. “If we are going under the guise of parental rights, what about African American parental rights? What about the feelings of African American children? They said. “He only cares that he feeds his fans.”
Dr. Michael Butler, professor of history at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, described the state’s arguments for banning the AP course as disingenuous, pointing to claims by the DeSantis administration that the writings of some authors in the recommended section of the curriculum for reading were evidence that that the course itself teaches critical race theory to high school students (it doesn’t).
“I think the influence [will be] that it will exacerbate the growing historical illiteracy we see in high school and beyond,” said Butler, who ordered the school district to cancel one of his civil rights history seminars in response to concerns about critical race theory. in January 2022. “We had fake news. We have more and more false history. Because the classes that teach students, warts and all, are gradually being closed for political reasons.”
These prohibitions, Butler argues, do the very ideological work they are supposed to do in the name of “free” thought.
“They want to instill [students] skipping hard lessons that demonstrate freedom and equality in this country is a constant struggle,” he added. “The fact that the state is now trying to intimidate professors, administrators and college staff into not running these highly effective real world programs is, to put it mildly, frightening. Professors who would never have thought their course might be on one of these lists are coming back and changing the content, removing material that is classic in their fields but could be distorted and used against them for political purposes. It undermines the spirit of higher education.”
“Basically, it derailed all my lesson plans,” said a teacher from Manatee County, Florida, who closed his classroom library. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.
Under the Curriculum Transparency Bill signed into law by Governor DeSantis in March 2022, teachers in Manatee County, Florida were forced to close books from the classroom library and remove all books from the school library until the contents of said libraries are available . reviewed and deemed appropriate by a librarian or “certified media professional”. Teachers caught violating the rules set out in the said bill may be held criminally liable.
“Basically, it derailed all my lesson plans,” said a teacher from Manatee County, Florida, who closed his classroom library. They asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. “Many of my lessons require careful planning to meet the needs of all of our students. We often create material for our books in a matter of months. With this directive, we are at an impasse while we wait for the books to be approved.”
The Manatee County teacher explained that they and their colleagues were informed that they could individually start book reviews through a program at the library to see if they were on the “approved” list, or they would have to wait until a certified media professional could check books. If a particular book does not already exist in the state-approved text database, that book must remain closed until it has been studied by a certified media professional (or volunteers asked by schools to help cover the hours needed to study it). ). checkbooks).
The book review process for curriculum approval is lengthy and complex, and other Florida school districts are expected to follow Manatee County’s lead by removing books prior to the review process. The Florida Department of Education has set a July 1, 2023 deadline for all librarians and media professionals to complete the training required to certify them to determine if certain books meet the state’s new requirements. These policies include requiring parental approval for new books and forbidding librarians from adding any books about culturally sensitive learning, social-emotional learning, or social justice.
Florida ranked second among US states with the most book bans in the 2021-2022 school year, with 21 school districts banning 566 books. As the DeSantis administration wages a full-blown political attack on the state’s curriculum, Florida continues to face severe teacher shortages and low teacher salaries, and teacher unions struggle to fight Republican attempts to weaken unions in general.
On January 23, DeSantis announced legislation that would raise teachers’ salaries but place a number of restrictions on teacher unions, including a ban on deducting union dues directly from teachers’ salaries and a ban on distributing union materials in the workplace.
An estimated 100,000 students in Florida do not currently have a full-time teacher, as teacher vacancies in the state have doubled in the past two years, with almost 5,300 openings in January 2023 and another 4,600 vacancies for teacher assistants and other staff. According to a working paper published in August 2022 by researchers at the University of Kansas and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Florida has surpassed other states in the number of teacher vacancies.
“Teachers and staff are leaving at an alarming rate, due in large part to Governor DeSantis’ policies,” Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, which represents about 150,000 teachers in Florida, said in a statement about DeSantis. latest initiatives. “We respect the voices of parents, teachers, school boards, administrators and students. They all play a critical role in providing our students with the best possible education, and student needs must be at the center of our attention. Our schools don’t need to go back to 1950; we need to move forward to 2050. Florida students deserve strong public schools.”
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