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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has had a meteoric rise in the Republican party. After cementing his status as a national figure during the pandemic, the governor turned his focus to education policy. As part of an all-out assault on what he views as the progressive indoctrination of American children, DeSantis has moved to overhaul Florida’s school system.
The governor’s education policy spans detailed reviews of classroom reading materials and restrictions on how sexuality and race can be discussed with students.
As DeSantis gears up for a rumored presidential run, here’s a look at his efforts to remake education in the Sunshine State so far.
The Stop WOKE Act
The Stop WOKE Act, passed in 2022, was a sweeping legislative actionaimed at limiting the way gender and race are discussed in classrooms and workplaces.
The legislation prohibits instruction stating that a person’s race or sex make them inherently biased or that a person is responsible for the actions of their sex or race throughout history.
Used since the early-to-mid 20th century by Black Americans to signal an awareness of social and racial injustice, “woke” has been co-opted by the GOP as a sort of umbrella term for progressive ideology.
While there is no broad consensus across the GOP of what “woke” means, its so-called presence in academic institutions is a popular point of attack for political hopefuls. “It’s kind of this lumping together of anybody whose views could be construed as being progressive on issues related to identity and civil rights,” Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Georgia, told USA TODAY.
During a trial with former Hillsborough state attorney Andrew Warren, who was suspended in part because the governor viewed his politics as “woke,” DeSantis’ lawyer Ryan Newman defined the term as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”
‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
One of DeSantis’ most high-profile moveswas the signing of the Parental Rights in Education Bill, nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay’” by opponents over its limiting of discussions on gender and sexuality.
Critics characterized the bill as censorship disguised as protection for children. The bill restricts “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.” It bars school employees from keeping information shared with them about a student’s mental or physical well-being from parents.
Advocates for the bill touted the increased control it granted parents.
The bill, passed originally in 2022, was expanded this past year to ban classroom instruction on both gender identity and sexuality in grades K-12. The expansion also prohibits teachers from using pronouns for students that do not correspond to their sex at birth.
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Book bans
Under DeSantis, Florida passed a law requiring all books available to children to be approved by a “district employee holding a valid educational media specialist certificate.”
Alarm spread fast as books were removed entirely from campuses so they could be reviewed. Brian Covey, a parent at Greenland Pines Elementary in Duval County, uploaded a video to Twitter in January that quickly went viral showing library shelves wiped clean. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association told The New Yorker in February that teachers in roughly one-third of the state’s counties had been instructed to remove or cover up books until further review.
The law bars any content deemed “pornographic” or “not suited to student needs,” a classification so broad some teachers began removing books early as a precaution against legal action. Once the training guidelines for media specialists were released, not all those books were in violation – though the rules are stringent, explicitly warning against “the use of any unsolicited theories or strategies that may lead to student indoctrination.”
In response, the Florida teacher’s union joined other groups in filing a lawsuit against the state Department of Education alleging the law is overreaching and will lead to censorship.
The DeSantis administration rejected dozens of textbooks in early May, citing their inclusion of “contested topics.”
Teacher’s Unions
In early May, DeSantis signed a law that levied tough new requirements on public-sector unions, including those that represent teachers and healthcare workers.
Calling it a “very productive day for education,” DeSantis approved the legislation that prohibits paycheck deduction for union fees and ups the employee membership requirement to 60%.
The law also places term limits on school board members, approves raises and training programs for teachers, implements a Teachers’ Bill of Rights and restricts TikTok and social media access on school Wi-Fi.
DeSantis takes on higher education
DeSantis holds a veto-proof supermajority in the state Legislature, giving him a unique opportunity to use the state as both a policy lab and a powerful launching pad for a presidential run.
A new bill, HB 999: Public Postsecondary Educational Institutions, tests that power. If enacted, the legislation would significantly weaken professor tenure at state institutions, giving political appointees like university presidents and trustees the power to review it at any time.
In addition,students at public universities would be explicitly barred from majoring or minoring in subjects pertaining to critical race theory, intersectionality or gender studies. University faculty would be prohibited from providing courses that deal with “identity politics” – long a hot-button issue for the right. The phrase is not defined, which may prompt professors to censor themselves out of fear of violating the law.
The law would also restrict universities from considering diversity, equity and inclusion measures in their hiring process and from doing business with other institutions that do. In May, DeSantis signed an additional bill banning state funding for DEI programs at public universities. The bill was one of three signed at a New College of Florida ceremony. The legislation, taken as a package, restricts the way race and gender can be taught on university campuses, prohibits students and faculty from having to pledge a commitment to DEI and expands apprenticeship programs.
DeSantis has said the hope is to tip the balance in what he views as a predominantly left-leaning culture at many Florida colleges.
New College of Florida
DeSantis’ plan for remakinghigher education has already begun at a small liberal arts institution in Sarasota. The New College of Florida, a public university, is the first stop in DeSantis’ foray into combatting “wokeness” on college campuses.
Early in 2023, DeSantis remade the board of trustees, installing a ream of conservative allies. The new board then fired President Patricia Okker and replaced her with DeSantis’ former education commissioner Richard Corcoran.
Florida’s education commissioner Manny Diaz said the vision is to turn the New College, which describes itself as a “community of free thinkers,” into “a Hillsdale of the south.” Hillsdale College, a Christian university in Michigan, has been for decades a rampart of conservative thought and political power.
Critics have lamented the shift which, they say, compromises the campus’ status as a blue speck in an increasingly red state. “This is nothing more than a transparent attempt to score political points regardless of how many people are hurt, fired or lose this place as their home,” X Gonzalez, a New College alumni and survivor of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, said at a board meeting.
Some private donors have also signaled distaste for DeSantis’ changes and indicated they may pull funding.
LGBTQ youth, transgender rights
In 2021, DeSantis signed a bill banning transgender athletes from competing on women’s public school teams, at both the high school and collegiate level, a growing trend across red states.
The governor has been a vocal opponent of gender-affirming care. “I think these doctors need to get sued,” DeSantis said of physicians who treat gender dysphoria.
In January, the governor sent a survey to Florida’s 12 public universities and 28 state and community colleges asking them to report if they provide transgender health services to students. The survey also asked for detailed information like how much they spend, student ages, hormone prescriptions and medical procedures.
Two additional bills, one in the Florida state Senate and one in the House, have been introduced to expand “Don’t Say Gay” to include pronoun restrictions, barring school employees from asking students their preferred pronouns and from sharing their own if they differ from their sex at birth.
AP African American Studies ban
Earlier this year, DeSantis made national news for banning a pilot course in AP African American Studies. The curriculum was still in its pilot phase when the DeSantis administration said it would not be offered in Florida, claiming it violated state law.
DeSantis said he was not against the teaching of Black history — merely the specific content of this course. His main gripe? References to intersectionality, Critical Race Theory and “queer theory,” which he said pushed an agenda. “We want education, not indoctrination,” the governor said.
When the College Board released the official curriculum months later, controversy ensued over changes that seemed to reflect specific points of contention DeSantis had raised. The College Board adamantly denied any outside influence but, after fierce backlash, signaled in April that it planned to revisit the course material.
Critical Race Theory
DeSantis is a vocal opponent of Critical Race Theory, or CRT, as it has become known. If passed, HB 999 would bar the teaching of any CRT principles in higher education and prevent any Florida students from majoring in subjects related to the philosophy.
A concept used in both academic and legal settings, CRT posits that racism is systemic in American society, baked into the institutions of the country from the courts to the doctor’s office.
Though it is generally reserved for college-level courses and higher, a nationwide panic over the idea has torn through the GOP. A tracking project from UCLA’s School of Law identified over 200 local state, and federal government entities that have introduced anti-CRT legislation and statements since 2020.
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