Under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, pictured, the state is enacting a handful of controversial education measures that are drawing national attention.
Octavio Jones/Getty Images
hide title
toggle title
Octavio Jones/Getty Images
Under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, pictured, the state is enacting a handful of controversial education measures that are drawing national attention.
Octavio Jones/Getty Images
Three Florida high school students are about to sue Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after the state Department of Education rejected a new Advanced Placement course covering African-American studies. The news comes a day after the College Board announced it would review the course.
“By rejecting the African American history pilot program, Ron DeSantis has clearly shown that he wants to dictate who owns history and who doesn’t,” Democratic state Rep. Fentrice Driskell said at a news conference in Tallahassee, announcing the lawsuit. on Wednesday.
Ben Crump, a high-profile civil rights attorney, said he will file the lawsuit on behalf of the three students if DeSantis does not allow the course to be held in the state. The course is the latest addition to the AP program, which helps high school students earn college credit.
“This is what it’s about, this is about them, that’s what the fight is for,” Crump said. “Never forget that”.
While dozens of states are introducing legislation that limits how various topics, including race and American history, can be discussed in public schools, these bills are particularly successful in Florida. Under DeSantis, the state passed its “Stop Woke” law, which allows parents to sue teachers and school districts for violating state limitations on how race is taught in classrooms, and the Children’s Rights Act. Parents in Education, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for certain elementary school students.
Upon news of the new AP African-American studies course, the class was quickly nixed by the state Department of Education. Last week, Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. I call the course “awakened indoctrination disguised as education.”
“As we’ve said all along, if the College Board decides to revise its course to comply with Florida law, we’ll be back to the table,” Diaz added.
The College Board will publish a revised course framework on the first day of Black History Month
The College Board announced Tuesday that it would review the course. The organization said it will release “the official framework” for the course on February 1, which it noted is the first day of Black History Month.
“We are pleased that the College Board has recognized that the originally submitted course syllabus is problematic, and we are encouraged to see the College Board express its willingness to change it,” said Alex Lanfranconi, director of communications for the Florida Department of Education.
“AP courses are standardized across the country, and as a result of Florida’s strong stance against identity politics and indoctrination, students across the country will have access to a historically accurate and unbiased course,” Lanfranconi added.
When contacted for comment, the College Board would not confirm whether the state’s ban on the course is playing a role in its reviews.
“Before a new AP course is widely available, it is tested in a small number of high schools to gather feedback from high schools and colleges,” the College Board said in an announcement. “The official course framework incorporates these comments and defines what students will encounter on the AP exam for college credit and placement.”
At the rally announcing the lawsuit, Driskell commented on the plethora of legislation passed in the state, under the governor’s leadership, that limits the way race and other issues are discussed in the classroom.
“It means I don’t belong,” said Driskell, who is Black. “He wants to say that you don’t belong and whose story he tells, and he doesn’t tell. But we’re here to tell him: we are America.”
Three AP honors high school students, who were present at the conference, will be the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
