As I’ve noted before, there is a bill in the state legislature that proposes to turn review and selection of all public school textbooks over to local school districts, removing state-level government from the process completely.
In today’s Tampa Bay Times there is now a more in-depth story: Bill aims to end state control of textbook selection. The article reveals that Sen. Alan Hays, who filed the bill, was responding to a protest that flared up in Volusia County late last year over a history textbook.
I live in Volusia County, and so I’m familiar with what happened. Some citizens felt that “World History†published by Prentice Hall promoted Islam while neglecting Christianity and Judaism. The protesters took their complaints to the school board and got folks so stirred up that one school board meeting was postponed at the last minute due to security concerns. When the board finally met at a later date, they resisted the pressure and approved the textbook. The protesters had failed to take the entire curriculum into account. Christianity and Judaism are in fact fully covered in sixth grade. Islam is in the high school portion of the curriculum and therefore was featured in the challenged “World History†book. Nonetheless, the protesters are still brainstorming ideas about how to overcome their defeat.
Earlier reports about Hays’ bill said that it was filed in response to “complaints from Florida school district leaders” and that “constituents and school board members have made clear their desire.” But today’s story casts doubt on those assertions.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Pinellas School Board chairwoman Carol Cook said of Hays’ proposal.
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Just last year, lawmakers gave districts the option of ignoring the state textbook adoption system in favor of a local one. None have done so.“The problem that I see with it is, we’re going to have all of the textbook companies and publishers going to each of the districts and taking a lot of time away from our staff, and putting a lot of pressure on them,” Cook said.
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Some watchdogs worry that book battles like Volusia’s could become more common if the process falls to the districts.“If the responsibility shifts fully to individual school boards, how do we know if anything questionable makes it into the classroom?” Florida Citizens for Science wrote on its blog.
That potential also troubled FSBA president Hightower.
“I’m a little concerned about individuals in local districts trying to hijack the process,” she said. “As we’re moving toward higher standards, we want to make sure all our materials reflect that higher standard.”
Lobbyists for Florida’s school boards and superintendents said they did not ask for Hays’ bill.
I’m glad the reporter included this, too:
Textbook adoptions in other states also face criticism because of how they get politicized. In 2013, the Texas Board of Education filled its science textbook review panel with creationists, who aimed to add disclaimers on evolution.
That type of controversy has not dogged Florida, where the process has been viewed as fair. The state has convened committees to vet books against standards and recommend options to districts, which then do another review before making selections.
That directly relates to some points I made in my previous post:
Sen. Hays was a sponsor of anti-evolution legislation back in 2008. Second, a few school boards back then revealed themselves to be dominated by anti-evolution advocates when they passed resolutions asking evolution to be downplayed in the state science standards. Will a creationist-leaning school board consider textbooks or supplemental materials from A Beka Book, for example. Would that be allowed under Hays’ bill?
