Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) recently rejected the use of a number of math books in Florida public schools because they supposedly contain material relating to critical race theory — but closer inspection of who benefits from the rejection of the textbooks reveals that another Republican governor is set to profit from the decision.
This was earlier in the month DeSantis has rejected more than 50 mathematics titles that were intended for use in Florida’s K-12 public schools.He claimed that the books contained critical races theory, Common Core teaching concepts, as well as other materials that he considered inappropriate for children. But officials wouldn’t provide examples of how the content had violated state standards.
In spite of not being forthright on why these decisions were made, the state agency overseeing the rejection of the textbooks declared that their process was a “transparent” one.
Upon further investigation from news media, however, it became clear that certain individuals will financially benefit from DeSantis’s rejection of textbooks — including Gov. Glenn Youngkin from Virginia, another Republican lawmaker, has also pushed anti-critical racism theory.
The only textbooks approved by the DeSantis administration for K-5 classrooms in the state were from Accelerate Learning. The Tallahassee Democrat reported last week. That company, the progressive organisation Blue Virginia has pointed outThe Carlyle Group, which Youngkin was the CEO at the time of the acquisition, purchased the company.
As a result of the reporting, the Virginia governor denied having anything to do with DeSantis’s decision-making process. “The governor left Carlyle two years ago and had no direct involvement with the partnership,” a spokesperson for Youngkin said.
Still, DeSantis’s decision to use only Accelerate Learning books for K-5 classrooms will have a positive financial impact on Youngkin, as Youngkin still has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stock in The Carlyle Group.
It’s unclear whether DeSantis’s actions were made with the intention of increasing Youngkin’s profits, but because the state hasn’t been transparent about its process for rejecting books, the connection has raised a number of eyebrows.
“It’s still unclear if this is all just a giant coincidence or if Republicans are using their efforts to censor ideas they don’t like in public schools to also steer contracts towards publishers they have relationships and investments with,” Occupy Democrats opinion columnist Thomas Kennedy said in a recent column. “To me, it’s highly suspicious that the only Math textbooks now available for Florida school districts in grades K-5 have a direct connection to a Republican governor who is also pushing the same censorship agenda.”
