Ron DeSantis: Florida Schools Will Not Teach Critical Race Theory – The Federalist

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced critical race theory at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, vowing to expressly exclude it from the states public schools.

Florida civics curriculum will incorporate foundational concepts with the best materials and it will expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory and other unsubstantiated theories, DeSantis said. Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.

No matter if your family came on the Mayflower or you became a naturalized citizen, these principles belong to you, DeSantis said.

DeSantis said Florida would receive $106 million in pandemic-associated federal dollars. A new proposal by DeSantis would provide an additional $3,000 to public educators who are credentialed to teach American civics. About $16.5 million of the pandemic funds would be allocated to training educators and principals in civics.

In his speech, the governor laid out a plan to put $6.5 million toward public service advocacy programs between schools and the government, and $7 million for civics curricula that provide students with foundational concepts.

The proposed plan directly opposes civics mandates in the state of Illinois that call for critical race theory training, for instance. Illinois recently approved Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards that call for educators to assess their biases, and how those biases affect, how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc).

In February, a House bill in West Virginia was introduced by Republican Reps. Riley Keaton, Josh Holstein, Trenton Barnhart, and Johnnie Wamsley, to prevent critical race theory in education. In New Hampshire, Republican Rep. Keith Ammon sponsored a bill to ban the promotion of race essentialism, collective guilt, and race-based harassment, in schools.

On day one of his presidency, Joe Biden issued an executive order to rescind former President Trumps ban on critical race theory training for employees in federal agencies and contractors.

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Ron DeSantis: Florida Schools Will Not Teach Critical Race Theory - The Federalist