On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis formally requested that the Florida Legislature enact a law allowing parents to file a lawsuit against school districts that teach critical race theory.
During a press conference in December, DeSantis first proposed banning on critical race theory, but he didn’t provide any examples of such lessons in Florida schools. Instead, his administration issued a press statement citing examples of race-related teaching from other states, as reported by the conservative Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.
Critical race theory is an analytical framework that investigates how slavery and racism affected policies and institutions in the United States. It is primarily taught in law schools. The majority of public schools claim that critical race theory is not taught in their classrooms.
Ron Desantis tonight says that liberal educators are “teaching kids to hate this country,” so he is pushing for a new law so parents can “inspect curriculum,” and sue schools if they catch teachers who “smuggle in” any “inappropriate content.” pic.twitter.com/PTc3EZXskv
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 10, 2022
Republicans use the term critical racial theory as a catch-all term to criticize the way racism and other social issues are taught in public schools, while Democrats accuse Republicans of attempting to erase history with their attacks on critical race theory.
It’s become a hot topic among conservatives, especially since Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin ran for governor in 2021 and won by railing against it.
Critical race theory lectures are already prohibited in public schools, and DeSantis signed a Parental Bill of Rights into law last year, allowing parents to guide the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their children.
DeSantis asked Quisha King, a spokeswoman for the conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty, to stand in the crowd as part of his speech.
DeSantis’ remarks were accompanied by other education initiatives, including the elimination of annual academic testing in favor of occasional monitoring, which has bipartisan support in Florida. He stated that he would not allow tuition increases at Florida institutions and promised to keep schools open, despite the fact that schools across the US are closing owing to an increase in coronavirus cases caused by the omicron variety.
