The Education Department in Florida claimed it rejected 54 math books last week because some of the texts made reference to critical race theory (CRT) as well as other “prohibited topics.”
The department in a statement Friday said it turned down 54 of the 132 math textbooks that were submitted for review, NBC News reported.
“The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies,” the department claimed in the statement.
The Education Department added that it particularly rejected 28 books because they “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT.” But no mention was made of how the rejected books made reference to critical race theory.
The Education Department also claimed other rejected books did not meet B.E.S.T. (Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking) standards – which is Florida’s preference for Common Core.
“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis claimed.
The topic of teaching Critical Race Theory in schools has become a hugely debated one. Conservative politicians have vehemently opposed it on the grounds that it is the next vicious liberal that will undo America. In the latter months of his bumpy presidency, Donald Trump singled out CRT as a liberal agenda that was meant to divide the United States.
