Ron DeSantis and his Republican allies in the Florida legislature have their eyes on a new slate of bills that targets teachers and marginalizes already vulnerable students in the state. The proposals, which the GOP-led body will take up Tuesday when they return for a new session, include measures that would prohibit educators from using students’ preferred gender pronouns, eliminate gender studies and diversity programs in higher education, and cede more power over curriculum to parents.
The half-dozen bills, which also include plans to weaken tenure for university professors, ban discussion of gender and sexuality in third through eighth grade classrooms, and implement a universal private school voucher program, are an intensification of the classroom culture wars that have defined DeSantis’ reign in Florida — all as the governor inches closer to announcing his expected presidential candidacy.
DeSantis, like his rival, Donald Trump, has always put grievance at the center of his governance. But his crusade against all things “woke” has largely come to focus in his efforts to remake the state’s education system, from elementary school classrooms up to the universities. “The state is telling you what you can and cannot learn,” Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, told the Washington Post. “That is inconsistent with democracy.”
R&I – TxPAT