Use Of Pronouns In School On The Chopping Block With New Bill Passed By Florida Legislators

If you’re looking for diversity programs in Florida, you may want to go elsewhere. NBC 6 reports Republican legislators gave final approval to pass a bill on May 3 that would prevent colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Bill SB 266 targets “woke” ideology and would prevent money being spent “to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism, as defined by rules of the State Board of Education and regulations of the state university system’s Board of Governors.”

The controversial bill sparked heated debates between House Democrats and Republicans, but the GOP was victorious with an 81-34 vote along party lines to pass the bill, which the Senate approved 27-12 last week.

House bill sponsor Rep. Alex Andrade (R-FL) claims DEI initiatives hurt schools and students, but Rep. Ashley Gantt (D-FL) says that’s simply not true and the data doesn’t lie. “We don’t see the data that DEI is ruining our schools; we actually see the opposite of it,” Gantt said. “We actually see that it’s encouraging robust conversation, different viewpoints, and that’s what college is all about.” Experts and educators in the state are reading between the lines. “It seems what the state is seeking to do is prohibit any type of speech in our classrooms that doesn’t to[e] the line of what the state wants to hear,” Eric Scarffe, assistant professor at FIU, said.

That wasn’t the only initiative to pass, including restrictions on teaching about race and gender on college campuses. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Senate Republicans passed a bill expanding on the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law. New measures ban teachers from using a person’s preferred pronouns or names that don’t correspond to their assigned birth sex.