DeSantis Squashes CRT in Florida

At a press conference in Manatee County on Tuesday, DeSantis vowed to strip funding for state college diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Gov. Ron DeSantis Eliminates CRT

“Who would say that an important part of black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids,” he said. “And so, when you look to see, they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons. That’s a political agenda.”

The governor made the announcement at the State College of Florida in Sarasota. Watch the announcement below.

“We are also going to eliminate all DEI and CRT bureaucracies in the state of Florida. No funding. And that will wither on the vine,” DeSantis said. 

The updated syllabi removes several authors whom Florida officials identified as problematic, including those associated with critical race theory, the “queer experience,” and black feminism.

They also removed required teachings on Black Lives Matter and the case for reparations from the curriculum, though both subjects are present on a list of options for a required research project.

What is Critical Race Theory?

Critical race theory, or CRT, is a framework for looking at U.S. institutions, mostly in the legal and educational realms, through the lens of racism.

Legal scholars developed CRT in the 1970s and 1980s in reaction to what they regarded as the lack of progress following the Civil Rights era. 

DeSantis Uncovered “Misuse” of Florida Funds

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said preliminary results of a survey conducted by  Florida’s Department of Education and state university system “revealed an extraordinary misuse of taxpayer dollars to promote a political agenda at the expense of academic focus.”

“It is our belief that the self-reported figures from state universities….were significantly misreported and under-reported,” DeSantis’ spokesman Bryan Griffin said in a statement. “These DEI and CRT bureaucracies are large, bloated, and self-serving. Nonetheless, what was reported revealed an extraordinary misuse of taxpayer dollars to promote a political agenda at the expense of academic focus.”

According to Griffin, the survey found:

• “The “Chief Diversity Officer” and support staff at the University of Florida cost taxpayers over $750,000 per year
• The “Center for Environmental Equity and Justice” at FAMU costs taxpayers $1.8 million per year
• The “Diversity and Inclusion Office” at USF costs taxpayers over $1.1 million per year
• The “Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” at FIU costs taxpayers over $1 million per year
• The UCF Vice President for “Diversity Equity and Inclusion” and assistant are paid a combined $445,000 annually, at taxpayer expense

Campus Reform analyzed DEI spending in Florida’s public colleges after the State University System of Florida (SUSF) responded to a memo from DeSantis. $15 million of the $28 million that SUSF schools spent on DEI and CRT initiatives came from public funds.

In January, DeSantis blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it violates state law and is historically inaccurate.

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