By RJ Caster
Gone are the days when a story began with “Florida Man…” and didn’t have anything to do with Governor Ron DeSantis. One thing is for certain, Governor DeSantis learned from President Trump that one has to be high-energy to drive the political narrative and be top of mind, nationwide, in order to raise name identification. And Gov. DeSantis is doing just that on the battlefield of his choosing: Education.
There is a unifying thread that runs through many of those actions DeSantis has taken as governor lately:
- DeSantis signs a bill targeting explicit books in schools.
- DeSantis signs a bill to put an end to allowing transgender athletes to compete in high school sports.
- DeSantis bans schools from being able to forcibly quarantine children who were exposed to COVID but did not test positive for COVID.
- DeSantis signs the "Stop the W.O.K.E. Act," banning Critical Race Theory from being taught in classrooms.
- DeSantis applauds the Florida Dept. of Education's rejection of 54 math books for not meeting standards and/or incorporating "prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT."
Regarding the rejection of 54 math books, the state released several of the examples found. One example was multiple charts illustrating what cross sections of the population were “more racially biased.” The chapter starts out with “What? Me? Racist?” before getting into the topic of… “Adding and Subtracting Polynomials.”
Both Retired Adm. William McRaven (U.S. Navy) and former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice called our K-12 Educational system the “greatest national security threat to our nation.” Last year the Pentagon released the Defense and Industrial Capabilities Report and its findings sounded the alarms around America’s failing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) culture and how it can hurt American policy on the world stage. Why is the educational industrial complex so concerned with fighting against something they supposedly “don’t teach” like Critical Race Theory? Why does the curriculum need to be politicized at all when it comes to teaching students the fundamentals of Math, Science and Technology?
The left would have people believe that it’s “Trump’s Republican Party” acting overzealous in this new battle over the hearts and minds of our youth. But the problem is a growing number of moderates and independents also feel like the Democratic Party is dismissing their concerns about education and what their children are learning. The Teachers unions did themselves no favors when they lobbied for continuous “learning remotely” measures which allowed parents working from home a chance to see what and how their children were learning (or lack thereof).
Furthermore, it’s a poorly kept secret there is an implicit left-leaning bias among educators, and a glaring disparity when money from teachers unions and their members are involved. Now the people in power are trying to say they aren’t inculcating any political leanings in children even though they tend to be predominately of a particular political persuasion. We are facing a growing mental health crisis among our children and public school educators, lobbyists, and their Democratic counterparts in government continue to stand athwart school choice measures yelling, “stop!”
We learned this past year in Virginia and almost in New Jersey, among other places with off-year elections, that parents are voting on the left’s handling of education this generation. So Gov. DeSantis is taking the fight to the Democrats over an issue that Democrats monopolized for nearly half a century -- and only time will tell if his strategic vision pans out. Ron DeSantis and the Right have embraced an issue traditionally held dear by the left in education which will benefit them in the coming elections, and possibly the future.
Caster is chief executive officer of Jacksonville, Florida-based Techne Media, and one-time intern for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD).