TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida’s Board of Education voted on Thursday to approve a rule that will effectively ban critical race theory from being taught in public school classrooms.
Critical race theory is an academic approach to explaining how racism functions in American institutions. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been an outspoken opponent when it comes to critical race theory in Florida classrooms.
“Let me be clear, there’s no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory,” he said earlier this year. “Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.”
Gov. DeSantis addressed the board virtually Thursday morning before board members started to discuss whether or not to allow critical race theory in classrooms.
He also tweeted about the topic saying, “Florida’s education system exists to create opportunity for our children. Critical Race Theory teaches kids to hate our country and to hate each other. It is state-sanctioned racism and has no place in Florida schools.”
Some activists, parents and teachers who support critical race theory argued that teaching about racism is necessary in order to combat it.
The rule approved Thursday “helps guarantee that teachers continue to serve as facilitators of
classroom discussion in a manner that is consistent with our state standards to ensure that students are not pressured into thinking a certain way,” the board says. According to a presentation from board members, it also “ensures our students receive classroom instruction that is both factual and objective and that significant historical events are not intentionally or unintentionally distorted.”
