Florida’s state school board on Thursday voted to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools amid a push from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to eliminate the ideology from its classrooms.
During a meeting before the State Board of Education’s vote, some opponents of critical race theory said it is Marxist and should be blocked.
“We all know it’s a Marxist tactic to divide our country by class and by race,” said Bennett Brown, a Duval County resident and board member of the Florida Family Policy Council.
Brown said that teachers should instead teach “the truth and that the United States of America is a great and wonderful land with freedom for all.”
“Telling my child that they are in a permanent oppressed status is racist,” critical race theory critic Quisha King of Moms for Liberty in Jacksonville said during the meeting.
Opponents of the Board’s decision said during the meeting that DeSantis and Republicans are attempting to prevent schools from using critical race theory as part of a political strategy to gain votes.
“It’s an effort to whitewash, cover up and candy-coat history,” said Ben Frazier, president of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville. “Allow teachers to speak the truth.”
The Florida Teacher’s Union president, Andrew Spar, also said he didn’t favor the move. Spar alleged that the change was not necessary because Florida teachers don’t use critical race theory in their curriculum.
But DeSantis countered Spar in the meeting with three examples of what he described as “attempts to teach [critical race theory] in Florida,” including one in Jacksonville, where the meeting was held.
After the Board’s decision, DeSantis hailed the move.
“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,” he wrote on Twitter.
