textbook approval

The Leon County School District is waiting to see what the state education department does next, after it rejected an unprecedented number of school textbooks, about 41% of what was submitted. More than 70% of submissions for mathematics in grades K-5 were tossed and only one publisher made that list. That’s leaving school districts like Leon, with few options.

Florida is jumping into an increasingly heated fray over what learning materials students should be exposed to in the classroom. A plan by state Republican Senator and Florida GOP Chairman Joe Gruters requires school boards to create and publicly post their processes for adopting items like library books—and to create ways for parents to request the removal of content they don’t like.

Florida lawmakers want to make it easier for parents and residents to challenge school textbooks. Depending on who you ask, the bill is a slippery slope…

Grade school textbooks would be chosen by local school districts rather than the state education commissioner under a bill filed in the Florida…