Florida’s public education system has taken a punch to the gut not once, not twice, but multiple times over year. Even Orlando Weekly staff have to admit it’s been tough to keep up with the last couple of months of chaos.
From Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law (i.e. “Don’t Say Gay”) to Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE Act” dismantling diversity initiatives at universities; K-12 book bans and new library book guidelines and full-on classroom library removals; and attacks on trans youth at every grade level, it’s a lot to take in.
Here’s a round-up of what you need to know about what’s going down.
FLORIDA’S K-12 SYSTEM
Book bans and removals
School districts across Florida, and across the country, are pulling “controversial” books (predominantly those that explore LGBTQ+ themes, or acknowledge that racism is a thing) from school library shelves, including in teachers’ own classrooms.
A new state rule stemming from a Republican-sponsored bill signed into law last year (HB 1467) requires school-library employees (aka media specialists) to undergo new yearly training sessions. The guidelines are part of a new law aimed at increasing scrutiny of library books and instructional materials in Florida’s public schools. To get some idea of the direction this is going, one of the guidelines would require avoiding “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.”
Aside from the question of how a librarian can offer books to a student while avoiding “unsolicited theories”, one problem is that not every school has a media specialist on staff. (There’s something of a teacher/support staff shortage going on in Florida schools right now — go figure!) Another problem: This new rule increases the workload of those that are in schools. All books in school libraries, including teachers’ classroom libraries, must be approved by a qualified media specialist, scrutinized to ensure they’re age-appropriate, free from pornography and “suited to student needs.”
What people are saying: “I broke down crying twice today while pulling these wonderful books from my shelves,” one school librarian wrote in a message to the Florida Freedom to Read Project, hours after sharing a photo on Twitter of a full cart of books the librarian was reportedly forced to remove from their shelves “due to the objections of one man.”
Whitewashing African American history
At the behest of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the College Board has stripped the curriculum of a proposed AP African American History course of topics such as “Black queer studies,” Black Lives Matter, “intersectionality and activism,” and has purged the names of Black writers and scholars associated with critical race theory. This comes after DeSantis said he would ban the curriculum last month, arguing at the time that the class “lacks educational value.” (It’s worth noting here that DeSantis worked as a high-school history teacher in 2001-2002, and that, per a New York Times article interviewing former students, some “were taken aback by his comments on the Civil War.”)
State officials with the Department of Education had published a list of “concerns found within” the course, and focused on five topics: “intersectionality and activism,” “Black queer studies,” “movements for Black lives,” “the reparations movement” and “Black study and Black struggle in the 21st Century.” A group of Black religious leaders and elected officials last week pledged to “fight like hell” against the state’s decision to reject the course — a decision based on examining a draft version of the curriculum. Alas, that fight will have to go into other channels as the College Board knuckled under and removed the guts of the course.
What people are saying: “Gov. DeSantis’ systematic attack on public education is far bigger than AP classes. This is part of a larger war on our very ability to think, question, and engage in our democracy. It is a national attempt to redirect how students learn,” said Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens) in a statement.
Menstruation tracking and trans athletes
You may see some news outlets claiming that there is no connection between DeSantis and the Florida High School Athletics Association’s recent decision to revise rules around its reporting forms for female high school athletes. It’s true that the association is not directly under the purview of the governor. It’s also true that the group has long asked questions about students’ periods: age at first period, date of most recent period, typical interval between periods, how many in the past year and the longest interval between periods in the past year. (NB: Both reporters of this story are adult human women and at least one of us could not answer all of those questions after decades of, er, practice.)
So what’s the big deal? The big deal is that these questions have always been optional and now they are considering making them mandatory. The big deal is that the governor has been extremely clear about his desire to push trans girls out of girls’ sports. (There seems to be no similar fracas over trans boys competing or playing on boys’ teams.) And the big deal is that there is no guarantee or even discussion about this data staying firewalled with the athletics association; it could be twisted and extrapolated and later used to deny a legal abortion.
What people are saying: “This is clearly an effort to further stigmatize and demonize transgender people in sports [and] meant to further exclude people who aren’t assigned female at birth in girls sports,” Maxx Fenning, president of PRISM, a South Florida nonprofit organization that provides sexual health information to LGBTQ+ youth, told the Tampa Bay Times. “Beyond that, I think there’s concern among LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ [students] alike. This is an extremely invasive mode of gleaning into someone’s reproductive history, which is especially dangerous in this post-Roe world we live in.”
Attacks on teachers unions
Florida’s teachers unions aren’t strangers to Republicans’ ire. But the attacks on public education and teachers’ union rights have only become more pointed in recent years under DeSantis, who last month unveiled a “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” proposal that would specifically crack down on (i.e., weaken) Florida’s teachers unions.
The proposal allocates $1 billion in additional funds to invest in raising teacher pay (although districts have been having a hell of a time trying to figure out how to allocate their funds from the state for increasing teacher pay as it is). It would change the process for deducting union dues — likely to create something of a logistical nightmare — prohibit “union work” on the clock, require unions to annually notify members of costs, require teachers to annually sign a form acknowledging that they understand Florida is a right-to-work state, and would initiate the process for decertifying a union (eliminating collective bargaining rights) for teachers unions that don’t have at least 60% of membership. (Currently, the requirement is 50%.)
DeSantis calls this “paycheck protection” for a workforce that is underpaid, overworked, and facing an unaffordable housing market. Teachers are regularly disparaged as “groomers” by so-called parental rights advocates, and are stretched thin enough as it is working to comply with new requirements of “anti-woke” legislation DeSantis and his Republican allies in the state legislature have pushed through, for the sake of combating manufactured fears of indoctrination and appeasing the so-called parental rights advocates. Critics of DeSantis’ new proposal call it a blatant anti-union attack. If this were really about paycheck protection, how come it’s never Florida’s firefighters and police officers (who are often notably exempt from anti-union legislation filed by Republicans) who need their paychecks protected?
What people are saying: “While Gov. DeSantis seeks to punish and divide, we seek to unite,” said Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar in a statement. “We respect the voices of parents, teachers, school boards, administrators and students. All have a crucial role in providing our students with the best possible education, and students’ needs must be our focus. Our schools don’t need to go back to 1950; we need to move forward toward 2050. Florida’s students deserve strong public schools.”
Proposed new school voucher expansion
Republicans have also proposed expanding Florida’s voucher programs for students, a move that would inflict major “fiscal damage” on Florida’s public K-12 schools if enacted, according to reporting from the Orlando Sentinel. The Florida Policy Institute estimates that it could cost Florida’s public education system nearly $4 billion within five years, in what Democrats have called a ploy to essentially defund public education.
How? The plan, touted by Republicans as a move toward “universal choice,” would eliminate income requirements for voucher recipients, and would allow parents of any school-aged child to receive state funds that could pay for private school tuition or homeschooling services and supplies. The voucher system is problematic as it stands, and advocates for public education worry this expansion would steer money away from public schools to private schools that, lacking oversight, are allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students.
What people are saying: “This bill will give handouts to wealthy families by redirecting public tax dollars to institutions with zero oversight and accountability while defunding public schools that serve over 90% of our students,” Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) said in a statement.
FLORIDA’S HIGHER ED SYSTEM
Conservative takeover of Sarasota’s New College
Speaking of New College, let’s just say there’s a lot to unpack. And we’ll try to keep it brief. DeSantis last month appointed six new trustees to the board of the liberal arts college that’s frequently described as progressive. Another arch-conservative, Ryan Anderson, had been appointed just before the six new members, and the board comprises 13 members, so that amounted to an instantaneous takeover. Indeed, one of the new trustees, Christopher Rufo, tweeted, “We’re in charge now” after being tapped. Rufo is a conservative activist who invented the conflict over Critical Race Theory. Another new trustee, Eddie Speir, suggested terminating all faculty and staff contracts — essentially, firing everyone — to weed out “dogmatic wokeness.”
Just hours before the board met on Tuesday, dozens of students, faculty, and allies from across the state (including Orlando’s own state Rep. Anna Eskamani) rallied outside in protest of the major changes taking place at the college, as well as the (then-rumored) replacement of the college’s president. President Patricia Okker was indeed ousted at that meeting, in what she described as a “hostile takeover.” The board then appointed former state rep and state Department of Education commissioner Richard Corcoran as interim president. You know, the guy who once referred to teachers unions as “downright evil,” pushed for a ban on mask requirements during COVID-19, and was behind efforts to ban sanctuary cities in Florida a few years back. Yeah, that guy. These major changes to the board of trustees at New College have gained national attention, at least in part because of vocal opposition that’s come from some alumni.
What people are saying: “This is my home, and the state government is taking it away from me,” student Casey Bates told the Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Dismantling DEI programs
Last week, DeSantis called for the legislature to draft a plan to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state colleges and universities. In a statement, his office described the proposal as “a stand against academic discrimination and indoctrination.” DeSantis’ signature legislation, dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act,” restricts race-based conversations and consideration in schools and businesses. (“WOKE” stands for Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees, which is just … wrong.) The law bans teaching and materials that imply members of any one race should feel guilt for past actions committed by others of the same race, among other things. DeSantis said at a press conference that critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion programs would get “no funding, and will wither on the vine.”
What (sane) people are saying: “[It’s] the governor’s latest attempt to restrict free speech and erase the history and legacy of discrimination in America by impeding the right to share ideas and receive information in classrooms is dangerous for our democracy and future generations.” — ACLU of Florida.
Probing into transgender health services
If increasing scrutiny into diversity initiatives at Florida’s state colleges and universities isn’t enough, DeSantis’ administration has also requested broad information from universities about services they provide to transgender people on university campuses. Chris Spencer, director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, sent a memo last month requiring that universities answer a lengthy list of questions about various health issues, including how many people have sought “sex-reassignment treatment,” the number of people prescribed hormones and puberty blockers, and the number of people who underwent surgical treatments such as mastectomies.
What people are saying: “The governor formally requesting information about transgender services from our state universities is not a simple request for data,” former State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith shared in a tweet. “It’s Ron DeSantis using FEAR and INTIMIDATION to try and stop programs in our universities that support transgender students. We cannot let him.”
Chopping away at faculty tenure policy
Tenure is also under attack in Florida’s higher education system. Last year, DeSantis signed into law a bill that cleared the path for requiring tenured faculty to undergo a review every five years, down from seven. But, at the same time he proposed defunding diversity initiatives, DeSantis also shared this week that he’d like for the university system’s Board of Trustees (most of whom he appoints himself) to be able to request a review at any time “with cause.” It’s unclear what that means.
What people are saying: “Tenure is important because public schools from kindergarten all the way to the universities are a public good, right? They serve the community. They serve people. They’re a gateway to social mobility, economic mobility,” Robert Cassanello, a tenured history professor at UCF, told Orlando Weekly. Attacks on tenure both within the university system and public education more broadly can “open the door to diminish the quality of education” in the state, said Cassanello.