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      ‘A huge opportunity’: California Republicans eye school board elections

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      ‘A huge opportunity’: California Republicans eye school board electionsIdeological divisions over the pandemic as well as race and LGBTQ+ issues see Republicans target school board positions In this year’s hotly-contested midterm elections, California Republicans have organized to tap into political divisions and anger over the pandemic to win seats in an office that previously was rarely on the radar of the wider public: the school board.Across the US, the nonpartisan boards responsible for overseeing public schools have attracted increased attention amid uproar over pandemic-era school shutdowns and sharpening ideological divisions over issues like race, gender and sexuality.How to beat a book ban: students, parents and librarians fight backRead moreIn deep blue California, where 2,500 school board positions overseeing the state’s 10,000 public schools are up for elections, Republican party organizers in the state have identified the boards as an opportunity to expand its footprint, setting up an organization to help parents run for office. “We saw a huge opportunity,” Jessica Millan Patterson, the California Republican party chair, told the Redding Record Searchlight. “Parents had awakened to what was happening in our schools.” Jessica Millan Patterson and California’s Republican party did not respond to a request for comment by publication deadline.Earlier this year, the Republican party launched the Parent Revolt program aimed at recruiting and supporting conservative parents to run for office. The program has offered workshops and virtual events with tips and advice on how to run for office and the various roles and responsibilities of education officials. At least 100 people attended virtual and in-person events in April and July put on by the party, which offers training but not financial support, CalMatters reported.On the its website, the program encourages parents to run against the “radical left”, leaning into the divisive language that has characterized the school debate at the national level. “Powerful interest groups control our public schools,” the program warns, urging parents to run if they want “school boards to prioritize what’s best for parents and students instead of the radical left”.Meanwhile, Reform California, a conservative Pac, has also led efforts to train school board candidates as part of a campaign to improve education and protect children from “from toxic and divisive curriculum” such as critical race theory, the academic practice of examining racism in US laws and society that conservatives sometimes use as a catch-all for curriculum related to race.The surge in interest in school boards in California is reflective of greater interest nationally, said John Rogers, a professor of education at UCLA, and a broader campaign for political power on the part of some conservative politicians, philanthropists and thinktanks.“There was a sense on the part of some conservatives that cultural issues as they were playing out in public schools and public frustration over the pandemic created a fertile ground for advancing a political effort,” Rogers said.School boards took on a higher profile across the US during the pandemic amid growing frustrations about school closures, becoming battlegrounds for culture wars as schools debated how to resume in-person classes. Rowdy parents disrupted meetings, refused to wear masks and even threatened school board members – some boards had to end meetings due to the disruptions.US students on why affirmative action is crucial: ‘They need our voices’Read moreFollowing the racial justice protests of 2020, local school board meetings, along with state legislatures, were the site of protests and tense debate about “critical race theory” and LGBTQ+ issues. The uproar, fueled in part by a conservative activist who has demonized curriculum related to race and sexuality, led to increased parent engagement in local school board meetings.Last year, the National School Board Association, a nonpartisan federation of state school board organizations and education lobbying group, asked the Biden administration for federal assistance in response to threats and violence against education officials over Covid restrictions and propaganda about curriculum related to race and diversity amid a panic over critical race theory.In California, Rogers said, “I think school boards were seen as a space in which the Republican party might be able to take some action and assert power. There’s a frustration on the part of parents that the Republican party thought it could tap into and parts of the state might be responsive to these culturally divisive arguments being advanced elsewhere.”It’s not yet clear how the effort will pay off, he said – school board elections don’t have polling and often fly under the radar, which could help Republicans: “School boards represent a site where it may be more likely they can gain some power precisely because those races have received less attention.”The participation of parents and community members in schools is important, Rogers added, but the politicization of the typically nonpartisan board could have worrying impacts, including less social trust and less desire to invest in public schools.Republicans’ classroom gagging bills are ‘attack on education’, report saysRead moreCalifornia’s school board association warned last year that officials were seeing an “unprecedented increase in hostility” in every corner of the state and deliberate attempts to shut down meetings.“We’ve never seen something occurring with this wide of a scope all across California,” Troy Flint, a CSBA spokesperson,said at the time. “The extreme partisanship that is increasingly a part of American life is rearing its head in school board discussions.”Some of the school board candidates running this year in the state have received attention for questioning the result of the 2020 election, opposing the Covid vaccine and are critical of teaching students curriculum about LGBTQ+ people. In Sacramento, a member of the Proud Boys who has pledged to “fight cultural Marxism” is running for the school board – the Republican party did not endorse him.TopicsUS educationRepublicansCaliforniaUS politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of Florida

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      Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of FloridaLikely appointment of Republican Nebraska senator as president of the university sparks protests during his campus visit Less than a week after being revealed as the likely next president of the University of Florida (UF), the Republican senator Ben Sasse was met with protests when he appeared on campus in Gainesville on Monday.Ben Sasse, Republican who voted to convict Trump, to depart CongressRead more“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ben Sasse has got to go,” protesters chanted, seeking to draw attention to the Nebraskan’s views on LGBTQ+ rights.According to the UF student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, after Sasse left a student forum early, leaders of a crowd of around 300 called the senator “homophobic and racist in between yelling from the audience”. One protester called out “Get the fuck”, the crowd responding, “Out of our swamp!”Online footage showed the noisy scenes.A former president of Midland University in Nebraska, Sasse was elected in 2014. He emerged as a relatively independent voice in Republican ranks, criticising Donald Trump though usually voting with him. He voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial.But in 2015, when the supreme court made same-sex marriage legal, Sasse called the ruling “a disappointment to Nebraskans who understand that marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and dad”.Under the heading “Nebraska values”, Sasse’s website says: “The family is the most basic unit of civilization, and the heart of our society. Senator Sasse supports the right to life, the sanctity of marriage, and the right of families to choose how to educate their children.”In Gainesville on Monday, Sasse first spoke to faculty members. The first question was about his opposition to same-sex marriage.He said: “I believe in the universal dignity and the immeasurable worth of every single person, all the tens of millions of Floridians, all … 56,000 students here, all 30,000 faculty and staff … we need to create a community of inclusion and respect and trust where people feel heard and appreciated and cherished.”Regarding Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 ruling which made same-sex marriage legal, Sasse said: “There are definitely federal policy issues where I’ve had disputes before about which decisions courts should be making versus legislatures, but Obergefell, for example, is the law of the land and nothing about Obergefell is changing in the United States.”However, when the right to abortion was overturned earlier this year, Clarence Thomas, one of six conservatives on the supreme court, suggested same-sex marriage could also be reconsidered.Democrats responded by seeking to pass the Respect for Marriage Act. Sasse told reporters that Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, was “trying to divide America with culture wars”.“I think it’s just the same old bullshit,” he said. “She’s not an adult.”In Gainesville, as the young adults of UF protested, a staff forum featuring Sasse was moved online.The Sasse pick prompted the Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, to deny that he intended to appoint himself as Sasse’s Senate replacement. It also fed claims of growing Republican political interference in university affairs.There are no other named candidates for president. On Monday, the campus paper reported, one protester said: “I thought America was supposed to be a democracy. So why don’t we have a choice?”Alex Noon, president of the UF law school’s LGBTQ+ organization, told the Alligator: “It blows my mind that this is the sole person that they came up with. I could probably go downtown on a Thursday and find someone better.”RJ Della Salle, a gay student, said of Sasse: “We either have someone who’s a genuine homophobe as our president or we have a sleazy politician who just says what the people that he’s trying to get elected by want to hear.”TopicsFloridaLGBTQ+ rightsUS educationHigher educationUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Biden says his student loan relief is ‘life-changing’. Will it fix the system’s inequities?

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      Biden says his student loan relief is ‘life-changing’. Will it fix the system’s inequities?The initiative’s income cap and unclear bureaucratic process could fail to address the racial disparities that already exist01:15As Joe Biden announced the details of his plan to help those with student loan debt, Kat Welbeck wrestled with the idea. For millions of Americans, the unprecedented relief would be “life-changing”, especially for low-income and Black and Latino Americans, who are disproportionately saddled with decades-long debt, she said.But the plans’ income cap on who can receive cancellation, and its unclear bureaucratic process for Americans seeking debt relief could perpetuate the inequities that underpin the nation’s student loan system, Welbeck, director of advocacy and civil rights counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, said.Student loan forgiveness: what you need to know about Biden’s planRead more“While a $10,000 cancellation is so meaningful for millions of student loan borrowers, there’s a lot that’s still to be done to fix this student debt crisis,” Welbeck says.On Wednesday, the White House released its long-anticipated plan on how to tackle the nation’s mounting $1.6tn student loan debt, accounting for more than 43 million people, with almost a third owing less than $10,000, according to federal data.The initiative would cancel up to $10,000 in debt for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year ($250,000 for married couples). Borrowers whose low income level qualified them for a Pell Grant will receive up to $20,000 in relief. The White House also extended a pause for “one final time” on student loan payments through January.The White House has projected that the plan would eliminate full debt balances for 20 million Americans and that 90% of debt relief dollars would go toward people with incomes less than $75,000. The White House also touted it as an effort to “advance racial equity”, pointing to its targeted relief for those who received Pell Grants. Officials noted that Black Americans were twice as likely to receive such grants as white Americans.Senator Elizabeth Warren, who, like others, have advocated for cancelling at least $50,000 in student debt, praised the administration’s plan as “transformative for the lives of working people all across the country” and would “help narrow the racial wealth gap among borrowers”.Still, some argue that the cancellation of just $10,000 for most borrowers would fail to substantially affect the racial disparities within the student loan system. Black and Latino borrowers disproportionately come from poorer households and, as a result, take on more debt than white Americans. At the same time, white American households have, on average, 10 times the wealth of Black households.Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, which had been advocating for cancellation of $50,000, wrote in an op-ed that Biden’s plan would “do little to help” Black Americans who, on average, hold nearly twice as much student debt as white borrowers. “Canceling just $10,000 of debt is like pouring a bucket of ice water on a forest fire,” he said. Canceling $10,000 in student debt when the average white borrower is $12,000 in debt, while Black women hold on average over $52,000 isn’t just unacceptable, it’s structural racism.— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) August 23, 2022
      The emphasis on income in the White House’s cap represents a possible barrier that could exclude borrowers of color who meet the income threshold yet their families lack the wealth to tackle the debt, Welbeck says. A June 2020 report from the Student Borrower Protection Center found that 90% of Black Americans and 72% of Latino Americans took out student loans, a far cry from the 66% of white Americans.And 20 years after graduating college, the median Black borrower still owed 95% of their original debt while the median white borrower paid down the same amount. For Latinos, after 12 years, they owed 83% of their original debt, more than the white borrower over the same time.Given that Black and Latino Americans typically earn less than white Americans, borrowers of color will start from behind without the intergenerational wealth available to reduce the debt they already hold.“So if you’re already coming from a lower-wealth household, you now have more debt, and then that cuts into opportunities for you to build wealth for the next generation,” Welback says. “You might see higher-income households that are Black or Latino, but that does not take away the fact that you still have those wealth disparities.”Student loan forgiveness: what does it mean for the US debt crisis?Read moreHistorically, the education department has complicated access to loan forgiveness through the programs it creates, such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for non-profit and public service workers seeking relief and the borrower defense program for those who were defrauded by predatory for-profit colleges.The White House initiative does nothing to address private student loan debt, which accounts for more than $140bn in debt. Although Latino borrowers were more than twice as likely to report struggling with private student loan debt as white borrowers, Black borrowers were a staggering four times as likely to fall behind on private debt payments, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center.An application process could make it harder for people to access relief, Welbeck says. But recent decisions by the education department to automatically discharge debts for hundreds of thousands of students who attended ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges, two for-profit college chains that imploded, show that a widespread relief without bureaucratic hurdles is possible. The two debt cancellations at the for-profit institutions amounted to roughly $10bn affecting more than 700,000 students.“The student debt crisis is a result of the longstanding history of racial discrimination that we have in our country, and it continues to perpetuate them,” Welback says. “So until we address student debt as a civil rights crisis, we’re not going to be able to make meaningful gains toward equity.”TopicsUS student debtBiden administrationUS student financeRaceJoe BidenUS politicsUS educationnewsReuse this content More

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      Biden unveils plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for millions

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      Biden unveils plan to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for millionsPresident delivers on campaign promise and outlines debt relief measures for those on lower incomes in White House speech01:15Millions of Americans received welcome news on Wednesday when Joe Biden delivered on a campaign promise to provide $10,000 in student debt forgiveness.Borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year will be eligible for loan forgiveness, with those whose low incomes qualified them for federal Pell Grants receiving up to $20,000 in relief. About a third of US undergraduate students receive Pell Grants.Biden also extended a pause on federal student loan payments through the end of the year. The White House said it would be the last pause, and borrowers should expect to resume payments in January.If it survives probable legal challenges, Biden’s plan could offer a windfall to many Americans in the run-up to midterm elections in November. More than 45 million owe a combined $1.7tn in federal student debt. Almost a third owe less than $10,000, according to federal data.Biden also proposed a new income-driven repayment plan that would cap loans for low-income future borrowers and introduce fixes to the loan forgiveness program for non-profit and government workers.“Twelve years of universal education is not enough,” Biden said, announcing the plan at the White House. “How do we remain the most competitive nation in the world with the strongest economy in the world with the greatest opportunities?“That’s what today’s announcement is about. It’s about opportunity. It’s about giving people a fair shot. It’s about the one word America can be defined by: ‘possibilities’. It’s about providing possibilities.Biden noted that the federal government gave loans to small businesses during the Covid pandemic.“Now, it’s time to address the burden of student debt the same way.”Biden added that “an entire generation is now saddled with unsustainable debt.“The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the middle-class life that the college degree once provided. The burden is especially heavy on Black and Hispanic borrowers who, on average, have less family wealth to pay for it.”Biden said more information on the plan would soon be released and borrowers who qualify for forgiveness could expect a “short and simple form to apply for this relief”, sent by the Department of Education.The US has a long history of student debt, the vast majority owed to the federal government, which has been offering loans for college since 1958. US student debt has more than tripled over the last 16 years.Senior Democrats on Capitol Hill cheered Biden’s announcement. The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, a longtime advocate of the policy, issued a joint statement.They said: “With the flick of a pen, President Biden has taken a giant step forward in addressing the student debt crisis by cancelling significant amounts of student debt for millions of borrowers.“The positive impacts of this move will be felt by families across the country, particularly in minority communities, and is the single most effective action that the president can take on his own to help working families and the economy.”The senators added that Democrats would continue with efforts “to help close the racial wealth gap for borrowers and keep our economy growing”.Biden has faced pressure from liberals to provide broader relief. The cancellation falls short of the $50,000 many activist groups wanted. Some groups have called for full student debt cancellation.“If we can cancel $10k, we can cancel it all,” the Debt Collective, a union of debtors, tweeted on Wednesday.Administration officials claimed the plan could reduce inflation. The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, argued that it would worsen the problem.McConnell said: “Biden’s student loan socialism is a slap in the face to every family who sacrificed to save for college, every graduate who paid their debt, and every American who chose a certain career path or volunteered to serve in our armed forces in order to avoid taking on debt. This policy is astonishingly unfair.”Biden’s continuation of the pandemic loan payment freeze came just days before millions were set to find out when their next student loan bills were due. The end of the payment freeze extension was set for 31 August.During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden was initially skeptical of student debt cancellation as he faced progressive candidates including Warren and Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont.On Wednesday, Sanders hailed “a great step forward” but said: “We have got to do more.”New York special election victory gives Democrats hope for midterms – liveRead moreAs he tried to shore up support among younger voters, Biden unveiled a proposal for debt cancellation of $10,000 per borrower, with no mention of an income cap. That campaign promise was narrowed in recent months by embracing the income limit.Democrats pushed the administration to go as broad as possible, seeing debt relief as a galvanizing issue, particularly for Black and young voters.‘There’s been a dramatic shift in how Americans think about the role of government in helping people out for college,” said Brian Powell, professor of sociology at Indiana University Bloomington who co-authored a book on the student loan crisis.Powell noted that support for debt cancellation and college affordability has grown. Those who go to college make on average $30,000 more a year than those with just a high school degree.TopicsUS student debtJoe BidenUS politicsUS educationUS domestic policynewsReuse this content More

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      Alarm over Texas law forcing schools to display ‘In God We Trust’ signs

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      Alarm over Texas law forcing schools to display ‘In God We Trust’ signsCivil rights advocates say it ‘imposes religion’ as new law requires public campuses to display any donated items bearing that phrase Civil rights advocates are ringing alarm bells about officials distributing “In God We Trust” posters in Texas schools after a state law took effect requiring public campuses to display any donated items bearing that phrase.“These posters demonstrate the more casual ways a state can impose religion on the public,” Sophie Ellman-Golan of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ) told the Guardian. “Alone, they’re a basic violation of the separation of church and state. But in the broader context, it’s hard not to see them as part of the larger Christian nationalist project.”The Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition (SARC) said they were “disturbed” by the precedent the posters’ distribution could set.“SARC is disturbed by the precedent displaying these posters in every school will set and the chilling effect this blatant intrusion of religion in what should be a secular public institution will have on the student body, especially those who do not practice the dominant Christian faith,” the group said in a statement.While the phrase doesn’t explicitly mention any specific religion, many argue that “In God We Trust” has long been used as a tool to forward Christian nationalism.Christians were instrumental in putting the phrase on coins during the civil war, Kristina Lee of Colorado State University wrote last year, and has since used the phrase as supposed evidence to prove the United States is a Christian nation.The flags’ distribution in Texas is not the first time that a government body has imposed the phrase.In Chesapeake, Virginia, the city council ruled in 2021 that every city vehicle was to carry “In God We Trust” motto, a move that would require a budget of about $87,000.Ellman-Golan of JFREJ said the issue is deeply connected to other concerns, such as women’s health and education in Texas.“We know that state governments in places like Texas are codifying white Christian nationalist patriarchy into law at an alarming rate,” she added. “The most dangerous examples of this are bans on abortion and gender-affirming care, as well as efforts to censor education.”Texas state senator Bryan Hughes, who is Republican and said he is the author of the “In God We Trust Act,” celebrated on Twitter, saying that the motto “asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God”.Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights organization, welcomed the initiative and said this might allow for an opportunity for students to learn about other faiths.“The notion of trusting God is common across faiths,” CAIR spokesperson Corey Saylor told the Guardian. “Applied through that lens, the posters can foster discussions among Texas students about their various faiths and enhance understanding.”Saylor did not comment about how safe Texas’s Muslim students might feel in Texas about their religion. About half of Muslim students in Texas’s Dallas-Fort Worth area have reported being bullied at school over their faith, according to a 2020 CAIR report.Sometimes in Texas, a fear of people from non-Christian backgrounds has prompted their being reported to police.For instance, In 2015, a 14-year-old Muslim boy in a Texas suburb was arrested after he brought a clock he made to school, and a teacher fearing it was a bomb called police on him. A few months later, a 12-year-old Sikh boy in another Texas suburb was arrested after a bully told his teacher he was carrying a bomb in his backpack.Saylor said the “In God We Trust” initiative’s success depended on “students of minority faiths’ [feeling] supported by educators to express how they understand trusting God”.TopicsTexasUS educationUS politicsReligionnewsReuse this content More

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      Principal of Uvalde elementary school suspended in wake of deadly shooting

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      Principal of Uvalde elementary school suspended in wake of deadly shootingMandy Gutierrez put on administrative leave, as 77-page report details multiple failures from police and other Texas officials The principal of the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where an intruder shot dead 19 students and two teachers in May, has been suspended from her job.Mandy Gutierrez of Robb elementary school was put on paid administrative leave on Monday, her attorney Ricardo Cedillo said in a statement to the Associated Press.The Uvalde school district superintendent made the decision to place Gutierrez on leave, Cedillo said.‘Nancy, I’ll go with you’: Trump allies back Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visitRead moreGutierrez had worked in the Uvalde school district for more than two decades and was finishing her first year as principal when the killings there occurred, according to a preliminary investigative report released on 17 July by the Texas state legislature.Cedillo did not provide any details on why Gutierrez was suspended.The decision against Gutierrez is only the latest against an official in the wake of the report’s release.After initially being put on paid leave as the report was being prepared, the Uvalde school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, saw his pay halted on Friday, five days after the report’s release.The school board had called a meeting on Saturday to consider Arredondo’s firing but ultimately postponed it, citing “due process requirements” and a request from Arredondo’s attorney.The 77-page report from the state legislature’s special investigative committee laid responsibility at Gutierrez and a school assistant for knowing that the lock on a classroom in which the massacre took place was not working but not getting it fixed.In addition to the 21 people killed during the shooting, 17 were wounded.Other parts of the report detailed several failures at various levels in the years leading up to the mass shooting at Robb as well as on the day of the massacre.According to the special committee report, nearly 400 officers went to the elementary school as the shooting began, but a lack of coordination between law enforcement agencies meant police failed to confront the shooter quickly.“In this crisis, no responder seized the initiative to establish an incident command post,” the committee wrote in its report.“Despite an obvious atmosphere of chaos, the ranking officers of other responding agencies did not approach the Uvalde [school district] chief of police or anyone else perceived to be in command to point out the lack of and need for a command post, or to offer that specific assistance.”On Monday, the district school board also announced that the district school year would be pushed back to 6 September. The district intends to use the extra time to install additional security measures while also providing emotional and social support services, ABC News reported.TopicsTexas school shootingUS politicsUS educationnewsReuse this content More

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      Ron DeSantis Disney attack violates Republican principles, GOP rival says

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      Ron DeSantis Disney attack violates Republican principles, GOP rival saysAsa Hutchinson of Arkansas appears to have no problem with anti-LGBTQ+ policies but says private business should not be target

      This Will Not Pass review: Dire reading for Democrats
      The “revenge” political attack on Disney by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, for opposing his “don’t say gay” law violates the party’s mantra of restrained government, his counterpart in Arkansas said.Democratic senator Joe Manchin cuts ad for West Virginia RepublicanRead moreDeSantis and Asa Hutchinson could be rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. On Sunday, Hutchinson laid out his position on CNN’s State of the Union.“I don’t believe that government should be punitive against private businesses because we disagree with them,” the Arkansas governor said, referring to the law DeSantis signed last week dissolving Disney’s 55-year right to self-government through its special taxing district in Florida.“That’s not the right approach… to me it’s the old Republican principle of having a restrained government.”Critics have criticised DeSantis for escalating his feud with the theme park giant, his state’s largest private employer, over the “don’t say gay” law, which bans classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in certain grades.Many educators believe the law is “hurtful and insulting” and threatens support for LBGTQ+ students in schools. Equality advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against it.“They are abusing their power and trying to scare Floridians and businesses away from expressing any support for that community,” a Democratic state representative, Carlos Guillermo Smith, has said.Hutchinson appeared to have no problem with DeSantis going after the LGBTQ+ community.“The law that was passed is to me common sense that in those grades, those lower grades, you shouldn’t be teaching sexual orientation, those matters that should not be covered at that age,” he said.“[But] let’s do the right thing. It’s a fair debate about the special tax privileges, I understand that debate. But let’s not go after businesses and punish them because we disagree with what they say.“I disagree with a punitive approach to businesses. Businesses make mistakes, [Disney] shouldn’t have gone there, but we should not be punishing them for their private actions.”Disney struck back at DeSantis this week by informing investors that the state cannot dissolve its status without first paying off the company’s bond debts, reported by CNN to be about $1bn.Biden’s top border official not worried about Republican impeachment threatsRead moreThe dispute centers on an entity called the Reedy Creek improvement district, established by Florida lawmakers in 1967 to allow Disney to raise its own taxes and provide essential government services as it began to construct its theme park empire.DeSantis’s law seeks to eliminate all special taxing districts created before 1968. Analysts predict families in two counties that Disney’s land covers could face property tax rises of thousands of dollars each if Reedy Creek is terminated next summer.DeSantis insisted during a Fox News town hall on Thursday that Disney would be responsible for paying its debts. Without providing details, he promised “additional legislative action” to fix the issue, CNN said.TopicsRon DeSantisFloridaUS politicsRepublicansWalt Disney CompanyLGBT rightsUS educationnewsReuse this content More

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      Florida rejects 54 math textbooks over ‘prohibited topics’ including critical race theory

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      Florida rejects 54 math textbooks over ‘prohibited topics’ including critical race theoryMove follows a series of hardline measures by Republicans in the state to alter teaching in schools as governor welcomes news Florida’s education department has rejected 54 mathematics textbooks from next year’s school curriculum, citing alleged references to critical race theory among a range of reasoning for some of the rejections, officials announced.The department said in a news release Friday that some of the books had been rejected for failure to comply with the state’s content standards, Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking [Best], but that 21% of the books were disallowed “because they incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT”.Department officials disapproved an additional 11 books “because they do not properly align to Best Standards and incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT”.Critical race theory is an academic practice that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society.The release does not list the titles of the books or provide any extracts to offer reasons why the books were removed. The announcement follows a series of hardline measures by Republicans in the state to alter teaching in schools as conservatives thrust the issue of critical race theory into the country’s ongoing political culture wars.In June last year, the Florida board of education ruled to ban the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. That included the teaching of the New York Times’s Pulitzer prize-winning series the 1619 Project, which re-examines American history in the context of slavery and its consequences.In a statement, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis welcomed the education department’s announcement and accused some textbook publishers of “indoctrinating” children with “concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students”.Florida Democrats rebuked the announcement. Democratic state representative Carlos G Smith argued on Twitter that DeSantis had “turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning”.Swathes of Republican-controlled states in the US have passed measures seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory, which will probably be a prominent conservative talking point in this year’s midterm elections.Many of those bills and orders are vaguely worded, leading to fears of censorship on school and college campuses around the country.TopicsFloridaRon DeSantisUS educationRaceUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More