Florida’s governor Tuesday signed into law a bill that will increase transparency into the curriculum at state-funded colleges, as well as updated guidelines for tenured faculty members.
SB 7044, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R), ensures that colleges are openly disclosing textbooks, syllabi, and other course-related material on their websites. This way, the bill says, prospective students, as well as parents, can see what students are being taught.
“Florida’s students deserve a quality, affordable education and don’t need ideological activists and political organizations determining what they should learn,” DeSantis said while signing the bill. “By ushering in strong curriculum transparency requirements and providing accountability for tenured faculty, Florida is standing with students and parents across our state.”
Wednesday, DeSantis’ Press Secretary Christina Pushaw explained to The Florida Capital Star what the governor meant by “political organizations.”
She said:
The phrase ‘political organizations’ includes bureaucratic accreditation agencies that have had a monopoly on Florida colleges and universities, creating a need for the reforms in this legislation. SB 7044 authorizes the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) to identify regional accreditors best suited for each institution, and the BOG will also adopt regulations for performance reviews of tenured professors. All faculty at our state universities and colleges must be held to the highest standards in educating students. Political retribution/discrimination, ineffective teaching, and any form of bad behavior in the classroom is unacceptable for any faculty member, including those who have tenure.
“Governor DeSantis thanks the legislature for delivering on these much-needed reforms to ensure our public college and university system remains the best in the country,” Pushaw said.
DeSantis has recently focused a fair bit of energy on reforming Florida’s public schools at all levels.
Most notably, he signed HB 1557 into law, which bars teachers from discussing gender and sexuality with students aged 5 through 8.
That bill has caused a massive backlash, and even started a feud between DeSantis and Walt Disney World, one of the state’s largest employers.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Ron DeSantis.
