Governor DeSantis Announces Florida School Curriculum to Exclude Critical Race Theory

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that his state’s school curriculum will expressly exclude the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). The governor said that “teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.”

“Florida civics curriculum will incorporate foundational concepts with the best materials,” Gov. DeSantis stated. “And it will expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like Critical Race Theory and other unsubstantiated theories.”

The governor went on to reiterate that there is “no room” in Florida’s classrooms for CRT.

DeSantis rolled out his budget proposal this week, which aims to spend “$106 million to support civics education,” according to Fox News.

His budget would allocate $16.5 million to train teachers in civics education and would spend $6.5 million “for developing partnerships between schools and governments in an effort to get students interested in public service, and another $17 million… for developing civics curricula — excluding critical race theory.”

In addition, Gov. DeSantis proposed this week to give teachers a $3,000 bonus if they participate in training and receive a certification for “the Florida civic seal of excellence.”

For Christian parents, Gov. DeSantis’ new proposal is a good reminder to remain or get involved in your child’s education, and to be aware of what they are being taught in school.

Parents whose children attend a public school should recall that their child will spend around seven hours a day, five days per week, for thirteen years straight being taught by someone else.

CRT originated in academia and grew out of Critical Legal Studies (CLS) which argued that the “law was neither objective nor apolitical” and that the “laws and legal system of a society are key in shaping the society as a whole,” according to analysis provided by Christianity Today.

Though beginning from a more modest legal theory, CRT today has become far more popularized and has taken on a wide variety of meanings, as it moved into other academic fields such as history, education, English and civics. Though difficult to provide a precise definition, CRT is now more of a “movement aimed at providing an antiracist understanding of the relationships between ‘race’ and law.’”

“Critical race theorists… first interest is to understand how white supremacy has been created and maintained in the U.S. The second interest is that CRT scholars are not just interested in understanding the functions of racism, but actually in changing these injustices.”

In other words, CRT today aims to propose, substantiate and disseminate the idea that the United States was founded on white supremacy. As such, it is no longer enough for people to not be racist. Rather, they must be “anti-racist.” This is usually defined as working for the dismantling of different “structures” and “institutions” which allegedly perpetuate racism.

Advocates of CRT target a plethora of institutions for this “dismantling” like police forces, the education system, media companies, television shows, large corporate empires, and government agencies, among others.

The New York Times’ 1619 Project has been one of the primary popularizers of CRT through teaching revisionist history in schools across the nation.

You can learn more about how to protect your child’s faith in public school by listening to this two-part broadcast from Focus on the Family.

Additionally, the resource Back to School – for Parents explains issues of concern in education – from sexual education programs to biased curriculums, and from privacy and safety to offensive material in school libraries. It explains parental and children’s rights in education and gives guidance about advocating on behalf of students.

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Photo from Ernst Peters /The Ledger via Imagn Content Services, LLC/REUTERS