During his announcement of a $106 million spending effort to support civic education, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis condemned the teachings of critical race theory (CRT), asserting that, "Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money."
The Republican governor added the controversial curriculum will not be taught in Florida, instead saying his state "will invest in actual, solid, true curriculum and we will be a leader in the development and implementation of a world-class civics education."
"Florida’s civics curriculum will incorporate foundational concepts with the best materials and it will expressly exclude unsanctioned narratives like critical race theory and other unsubstantiated theories," DeSantis said.
DeSantis announced the massive spending effort after Florida saw an increase in federal funds through the recently signed COVID-19 stimulus package.
According to Fox News:
Under the governor's proposal, teachers who get credentialed in teaching civics would get a $3,000 bonus. Some $16.5 million would be devoted to training teachers and principals in civics education. That training would come from civics "coaches," in-person seminars and virtual learning.
Around $6.5 million would be used for developing partnerships between schools and governments in an effort to get students interested in public service, and another $17 million would be targeted for developing civics curricula — excluding critical race theory.
According to Britannica, critical race theory is defined as “[t]he view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour. According to critical race theory (CRT), racial inequality emerges from the social, economic, and legal differences that white people create between “races” to maintain elite white interests in labour markets and politics, giving rise to poverty and criminality in many minority communities.”
Despite widespread criticism that CRT promotes divisive rhetoric, many public school systems across the country have adopted the theory as part of their standard teaching curriculum. Recently, a group of “anti-racist” parents and school staff in Loudoun County Virginia targeted parents who opposed the teaching of CRT with the intention of silencing them.
In September, former President Trump ended critical race theory training in federal agencies, describing it as “anti-American.” President Biden later reversed Trump’s policy via executive order upon entering office.
(Cover Photo: Gage Skidmore)