Florida approves more math books, but provides no explanation

A series of elementary school math textbooks previously rejected by Florida won state approval this week and can now be purchased by school districts that want books to match state standards.

But precisely why the books from Big Ideas Learning faced rejection two weeks ago and what, if any, alterations the publisher made to win approval remains unclear. Two other math books, one for algebra and another for geometry, also moved off the state’s “not recommended” list this week, according to information posted on the Florida Department of Education’s website.

The change means that Florida’s school districts now have more than one choice for their kindergarten to fifth grade math books — and an option that includes print books, not solely online offerings.

The state announced April 15 that it was rejecting 54 math textbooks, claiming many aimed to “indoctrinate” students with the inappropriate inclusion of “critical race theory,” “social emotional learning” or other “prohibited” topics. The Florida Department of Education, however, provided no examples of specific problems in any of the rejected textbooks.

It later released a list that said 27 books were rejected because they contained the unacceptable topics.

The department nixed textbooks from four of the five publishers that submitted bids to provide a K-5 math series to Florida’s public schools.

That left districts with one option — STEMscopes by Accelerate Learning — that is “centered on a digital platform,” according to the company’s website.

Some school districts delayed purchasing books they’d previously decided on, hoping publishers would appeal or the state would reconsider.

In several school districts — including those in Lake, Seminole and Broward counties — officials said they did not want online textbooks for K-5 students, as they preferred children to solve math problems by hand and worried about access if schools did not have laptops for every child.

Spokespeople from the education department and from Big Ideas could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

A pamphlet from Big Idea Learning about its Florida K-5 books touted “social emotional learning” as part of its math lessons.

The state told publishers that to align with Florida’s new B.E.S.T. standards — benchmarks for what students should learn in math, kindergarten through 12th grade — their textbooks could not include “social emotional learning, “critical race theory,” often called CRT, “culturally responsive teaching as it relates to CRT,” or “social justice as it relates to CRT” and “social emotional learning.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis and other GOP leaders have railed against CRT and banned it from public schools, arguing it is an effort to teach children to hate America and white children to feel guilty. Critics, however, say CRT is a legal theory not taught in public schools and argue DeSantis

wants to whitewash history and prevent the teaching of difficult topics such as slavery and Jim Crow laws.

State leaders called “social emotional learning,” typically viewed as a way to help children manage emotions and get along, an “extraneous and unsolicited strategies outside the scope of subject-area standards.”

An algebra 2 honors book and a geometry book published by Math Nation also won approval this week. The company’s textbooks also included prohibited topics, according to the state’s earlier list of “not recommended” books, though it was not clear which one.