MIAMI — Ever since Florida’s education department issued a scathing press release last week accusing publishers of pushing forbidden ideas on young minds, Vincent T. Forese and other publishers were left to wonder:
What’s wrong with our math textbooks? What makes them “woke”? Even “dangerous”?
On Thursday the veil was parted and the answer revealed — at least somewhat.
Amid demands for documents from news organizations, requests for information from others and a bit of ridicule on Twitter and cable news, the state responded with follow-up emails to individual textbook publishers puzzled by what was objectionable about their products. Those publishers will have the chance over the next two weeks to make amends if they want to be included on the state’s approved textbook list.
At the same time the state informed individual publishers of what must be rectified, Florida provided a handful of examples on its Department of Education website.
One example: A colored bar chart showing how levels of racial bias can vary by age group. It is part of a mathematical brain teaser involving polynomial models and is nestled on the bottom right-hand corner of page 56 in a pre-calculus online textbook consisting of more than 1,000 pages. The book is not identified on the state’s website.
That’s not allowed, the department indicated, adding that the complaint about the chart originated with a member of the public.
Two other examples that originated with public complaints make reference to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), a methodology wherein students try to get in touch with their emotions and demonstrate empathy for others.
The department noted in its press release the previous Friday that publishers were well aware that textbooks had to be aligned with Florida Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) Standards. That meant no trace of Critical Race Theory (CRT); no inclusion of Common Core, a concept championed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush but since rejected by Republicans after it was embraced by Democratic President Barack Obama; and not one scintilla of SEL.
Thursday’s emails were issued six days after the department issued the press release titled: “Florida Rejects Publishers Attempts to Indoctrinate Students.” The release said 41% of submitted textbooks were being rejected. Since, then, publishers were getting antsy because they had 21 days to fix the problem. No one knew exactly what problems they had to address because the press release didn’t cite chapter and verse and individual notifications provided no further information.
The press release provided a withering quote from Gov. Ron DeSantis: “It seems 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.”
Education Secretary Richard Corcoran chimed in, stating Florida was “focusing on providing ... children with a world-class education without the fear of indoctrination or exposure to dangerous and divisive concepts in our classrooms.”
In a tweet, Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, went further, while addressing those who take issue with “book banning”:
“The state declining to purchase certain textbooks isn’t banning them. If you want to teach your kid Woke Math, where “2+2=4” is white supremacy, you’re free to buy any CRT math textbook you want. You just cannot force Florida taxpayers to subsidize this indoctrination.”
She’s right that local school districts can allocate at least part of their book buying budget toward textbooks not on the state’s approved list.
That was small comfort to the publishers who wanted details but were given none initially.
“We didn’t get notified ahead of time that anything was being rejected. We learned about all of this basically at around the same time that everyone else did,” a media representative for one of the publishers told the Herald, asking not to be identified in order not to further offend Florida officials. “Did they point out any specific pages or passages that had material that was not allowed? No. Nothing.”
The press release from the department said the state made perfectly clear what was and wasn’t acceptable before publishers submitted their books.
“It is unfortunate that several publishers, especially at the elementary school grade levels, have ignored this clear communication and have attempted to slip rebranded instructional materials based on Common Core Standards into Florida classrooms, while others have included prohibited and divisive concepts such as the tenants (sic) of CRT or other unsolicited strategies of indoctrination — despite FDOE’s prior notification.”
Forese, president of Link-Systems International, a producer of educational software, including textbooks, reached out to the Department of Education for more information, as did several of the publishers with rejected textbooks. Among those with books on the reject list were industry giant McGraw Hill and Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group, which owns Macmillan learning.
“It seems politics are interfering with applicants getting any meaningful feedback from the DOE, but once we do we will respond accordingly,” Forese told the Herald before getting Thursday’s email from the state.
After the arrival of the email, which included information specific to his textbooks, he said he wanted to review the material before making any further comment.
State Sen. Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, promised on Wednesday to comment on the controversy but did not respond to a follow-up text on Thursday.
The head of the Democratic Party of Florida had plenty to say: “What Florida politicians are trying to do now is ignore the judgment of professionals and impose their own political views [behind closed doors] on every parent and child in Florida,” said Manny Diaz, the former mayor of Miami. He said that is the way “authoritarian regimes” behave, specifically mentioning Fidel and Raúl Castro, Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.
“My parents did not escape communism in order to have their children live in another authoritarian government, plain and simple,” he said, referring to their exit from Cuba.
Meanwhile, an entirely different Manny Diaz, Republican Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. from Hialeah, was announced by Gov. DeSantis as his choice as the next commissioner of education for Florida.
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