Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defended his administration’s education policies during a press conference Tuesday, claiming the majority of the outcry over Florida education legislation is “manufactured” by school unions.
DeSantis, who recently signed the Stop Woke Act, responded to an accusation that the bill forced a district to remove a book about Puerto Rican baseball star Roberto Clemente simply because it talked about racism.
DESANTIS THREATENS REMOVAL OF ALL AP HIGH SCHOOL CLASSES IN WAR WITH COLLEGE BOARD
“That’s politics, though, to be honest with you,” DeSantis told reporters on Tuesday. “Come on. We know — Roberto Clemente? I mean, seriously. That’s politics. I think the school unions are involved with this. I mean, you guys can [Freedom of Information Act] some of these communications. I guarantee you you’ll find some of that with the people that are doing it. So that’s a joke, OK?”
The Stop Woke Act prohibits Florida school districts from teaching critical race theory, but critics have said it goes further.
“You get something like that about a baseball player — first of all, I don’t think parents are challenging that,” the governor said. “I think [teachers are] doing it unilaterally to try to create an issue, but that can be resolved in about two minutes … but none of these things — 99% of this stuff is manufactured. It’s not what you need to be spending time on.”
Another one of DeSantis’s targets in education is removing books from middle schools and elementary schools that talk explicitly about sex and even some that contain graphic images and illustrations of sexual acts. Parents across the country have attended school board meetings to draw attention to inappropriate material found in school libraries.
“How, if it’s too graphic for a school board meeting with adults, it’s OK to do for a fifth grader or sixth grader?” DeSantis asked. “Of course it’s not. Let’s just get real here. There is unfortunately an effort in our country to try to jam some of this stuff into the elementary and middle schools. When you have the books that the parents really are concerned about, with the inappropriate [material], nobody justifies it. That’s so much different. Having [a book with] young kids engaging in sex acts, you’re going to compare that to a biography of Roberto Clemente? Give me a break.”
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DeSantis has emerged as a powerhouse in the Republican Party in recent years, and according to polls so far, he is the only major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president should the governor run.
Nikki Haley, former South Carolina GOP governor and ambassador to the United Nations, is the only person aside from Trump to enter the presidential race.
