TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida teacher's union fired back against Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday, saying that a ban on teaching critical race theory goes against fundamental American values.
The Florida Education Association (FEA) responded to Gov. Ron DeSantis' 'Stop WOKE Act' in an emailed statement.
Full Statement:
“Teachers are trained and experienced in educating children and have a duty to prepare their students to be successful contributors to society. Teachers should have the freedom to teach honest, complete facts about historical events like slavery and civil rights without being censored by politicians. The governor’s announcement today goes against this fundamental American value. All Florida’s children should receive a fact-based education that doesn’t change depending on their ZIP code." - FEA President Andrew Spar
The FEA is the state’s largest association of professional employees and the largest labor union in the Southeast, with more than 150,000 members, according to their website.
During an earlier press conference, Gov. Desantis' said he is waging war with what his administration calls "corporate wokeness" and critical race theory in Florida schools and businesses.
Critical race theory is defined as an intellectual movement that started to take a closer look at how laws and systems uphold and perpetuate inequality for traditionally marginalized groups, as reported by Time.
"I view the wokeness as a form of cultural Marxism," said Gov. DeSantis. "They want to delegitimize the founding of the country and the institutions, and they basically want to replace it with a very militant form of leftism that would absolutely destroy this country."
The bill would make CRT training against the law for both private businesses and public sector employees under the Florida Civil Rights Act.
Additionally, the move would ban the teaching of CRT in schools.
According to a news release from Gov. DeSantis' office, the Stop WOKE Act would:
- Codifies the Florida Department of Education’s prohibition on teaching critical race theory in K-12 schools
- Prohibits school districts, colleges and universities from hiring woke CRT consultants
- Protects employees against a hostile work environment due to critical race theory training
- Provides employees, parents and students a private right of action
- Strengthens enforcement authority of the Florida Department of Education