FL’s educator preparation programs may not teach ‘identity politics’ or distort historical events

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Thursday a measure restricting curricula for educator preparation programs and courses, essentially removing theories regarding systemic racism, sexism, oppression and privilege.

The governor described HB 1291 as an effort to stop indoctrination during the bill signing ceremony in Jacksonville.

“So it’s not going to be DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). There’s not going to be any of the bogus history. It’s just going to be standard teacher preparation without having an ideological agenda, and I think that that’s something that we want to see,” he said. “Parents want to send their kids to school, knowing they’re getting an education. I don’t think they’re interested in an indoctrination. I don’t think that parents care if a teacher has a certain political cause that they care about.”

Under the measure, which goes into effect on July 1, teacher preparation programs “may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum or instruction that teaches identity politics, or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

Meanwhile, Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar said state officials should focus on absenteeism and raising teacher pay. Florida’s average teacher salary, $53,908, currently ranks at #50 in the National Education Association’s latest report.

“This law that mandates teacher preparation programs ignore the reality of our state’s public education disparities will ultimately take valuable tools away from educators and leave students without the critical life skills they need to succeed,” Spar wrote in a statement to Florida Phoenix. “Florida can do better for our students by investing in public education, moving teachers from #50 in average teacher pay to top 10, and making sure every student has access to a qualified, trained teacher and education staff professional team.”

The Legislature approved HB 1291 during the last days of the 2024 session, and it caused heated debate in both chambers, with Democrats calling it another attempt to erase history. Ultimately, the House voted 81-31 in favor of the bill, and the Senate passed it on a 28-12 vote.

Republican Rep. Berny Jacques of Pinellas County, one of the sponsors of the bill, attended the bill signing on Thursday. He brought up the House floor debate on HB 1291, when he was scolded for using the term “woke garbage.”

“The fact of the matter is this: Regardless of how you slice it, whether it’s CRT or DEI, all of that stuff is simply trash,” Jacques said. “And with the signature today of House Bill 1291, governor, we will take out the trash once and for all.”

Future anti-DEI action against businesses 

The teacher preparation measure DeSantis signed today harkens back to the 2022 Individual Freedom Act, (HB 7) known as the Stop Woke Act, which banned public school curricula and private companies’ training that suggest “members of one race, color, national origin, or sex are morally superior to members of another race, color, national origin, or sex.”

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a ruling in March that the law was unconstitutional when applied to businesses, which it prevented from requiring employees to attend diversity, equity and inclusion training.

But at the bill signing, DeSantis signaled that his administration would take further action on private businesses’ DEI practices.

“If you have some of these trainings, where an employee is being told that they are inherently racist or sexist or bad in any, any respect, doesn’t matter if you’re white, Black, anything … that could constitute actionable conduct under Florida’s existing law,” DeSantis said. “So we’re going to be saying more about this, but the Stop Woke Act was really just a numerating and making clear that we believe this was the case anyways.”

He continued: “You’re gonna make sure that we fight back against a hostile work environment, so stay tuned on that. We’re gonna be rolling out some more stuff administratively, and I think it’s going to be really, really good.”

DeSantis also signed HB 989 on Thursday. That law allows people to place a complaint with the Office of Financial Regulation if they believe a financial institution restricted or canceled their account based on their personal views.