Florida rejects 41% of new math textbooks, citing critical race theory among its reasons

Florida passes controversial sex education law 1:19 (CNN) — The Florida Department of Education announced Friday that the state has rejected more than 50 math textbooks from next school year’s curriculum, citing references to the critical race theory among reasons for rejections. In a press release, the department stated that 54 of the 132 submitted textbooks will not be added to the state-adopted list because they do not adhere to Florida’s new standards or contain prohibited topics. The release says the rejected book list makes up about 41% of submissions, which is the most in Florida history. Reasons for rejecting the textbooks include references to critical race theory, “Common Core integrations, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in math,” the statement said. Critical race theory has become politicized in recent years, with opponents arguing that the area of ​​study is grounded in Marxism and a threat to the US way of life. But scholars who study it say that Critical Race Theory explores the ways in which a history of inequality and racism in the United States continues to impact American society today. Florida banned the teaching of critical race theory in schools in June 2021. At the time, Governor Ron DeSantis said that allowing critical race theory in schools would teach children that “the country is rotten and that our institutions are illegitimate. According to the ban, teaching in schools must be “objective and fact-based”. It specifically prohibits “theories that distort historical events,” including “the teaching of Critical Race Theory, that is, the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is rooted in American society and its legal systems to maintain white supremacy. Florida also banned teaching materials for the 1619 Project, The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning project to reframe American history around the date of August 1619, when the first slave ship reached America’s shores. The largest number of rejected books was for grade levels K-5, where an “alarming” 71% were not properly aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics, according to the release. Despite rejecting 41% of submitted materials, all math courses and grades are covered with at least one textbook, the statement added. In a statement, DeSantis said he is grateful for the Department’s thorough investigation of these textbooks to ensure they comply with the law. “It seems that some publishers tried to give a coat of paint to an old house built on the foundation of Common Core and indoctrinating concepts like racial essentialism, especially and in a strange way, for elementary school students,” the governor said. CNN’s Leah Asmelash contributed to this report.