‘No Room’ for Critical Race Theory in Florida Schools, Gov. Ron DeSantis Says

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vows that critical race theory won’t be part of the state’s education curriculum. 

“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 Wednesday.

Critical race theory, Heritage Foundation scholars Jonathan Butcher and Mike Gonzalez say, “makes race the prism through which its proponents analyze all aspects of American life,” and it “underpins identity politics, which reimagines the U.S. as a nation riven by groups, each with specific claims on victimization.” 

“Let me be clear,” DeSantis said, “There is no room in our classrooms for things like critical race theory. Teaching kids to hate their country and to hate each other is not worth one red cent of taxpayer money.”

Rather than teaching critical race theory, he said, Florida “will invest in actual, solid, true curriculum, and we will be a leader in the development and implementation of a world-class civics education.”

Gonzalez, who has written extensively on critical race theory for The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email that critical race theory is teaching children a false version of history. 

“Teaching young children that punctuality, love of reading and writing, and hard work are functions of something called ‘white-ism,’ or that treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity, will not help students thrive and be successful,” he said.