Illinois governor slams DeSantis’s decision to block AP course

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has warned the Faculty Board that his state will reject a revised Superior Placement African American research course “designed to appease extremists just like the Florida Governor and his allies.”

“Illinois expects any AP course provided on African American Research to incorporate a factual accounting of historical past, together with the position performed by black queer Individuals,” Pritzker’s mentioned in a letter to David Coleman, CEO of the Faculty Board. 

“Illinois will intently study the official coursework to make sure it contains all crucial historical past, beginning with this nation’s basis constructed on slavery, the Civil Struggle the place this nation reckoned with that historical past and the a long time of rebuilding and efforts of black Individuals to proceed their battle for equality and fairness to today.”

Pritzker’s letter comes after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to permit the course to be run in Florida colleges, partially due to its part on queer Black research. 

DeSantis’s administration despatched a letter to the Faculty Board on Jan. 12 rejecting the brand new AP African American Research course, stating “the content material of this course is inexplicably opposite to Florida regulation and considerably lacks instructional worth.”

“What’s one of many classes about? Queer idea,” DeSantis mentioned at a press convention on Monday. “Now, who would say that an essential a part of Black historical past is queer idea? That’s anyone pushing an agenda on our youngsters. And so once you look to see they’ve stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that’s a political agenda. And so we’re on — that’s the flawed aspect of the road for Florida requirements. We imagine in instructing children info and the best way to suppose, however we don’t imagine they need to have an agenda imposed on them. If you attempt to use Black historical past to shoehorn in queer idea, you might be clearly attempting to make use of that for political functions.”

Three Florida highschool college students introduced on Wednesday they’re ready to file a lawsuit in opposition to DeSantis if he stands by his choice to maintain the course out of colleges. 

The Faculty Board launched the interdisciplinary course as a pilot program in 60 colleges throughout the nation for the 2022-2023 faculty 12 months after greater than a decade of labor with schools, universities and secondary colleges to develop it.

However The Faculty Board informed The Hill on Wednesday that it’ll launch an up to date model as a part of ongoing revisions to this system, and DeSantis’s workplace took credit score for the adjustments. 

Pritzker’s letter mentioned he was “extraordinarily troubled” by the information that DeSantis was pressuring Faculty Board for adjustments “with the intention to match Florida’s racist and homophobic legal guidelines.”

Florida regulation limits how race might be taught or mentioned in lecture rooms and workplaces, and prohibits public major faculty academics from participating in classroom instruction associated to sexual orientation and gender id.

However Pritzker mentioned the course is significant for college students who’ve endured racism on “a private and systemic stage” even earlier than they reached highschool.

“For some, a course reminiscent of this can be one of many first instances they see their very own faces and experiences mirrored again to them on the web page,” mentioned Pritzker. “They deserve the chance, alongside their classmates, to study the sincere and correct historical past of the nation they stay in now.”

“One Governor mustn’t have the ability to dictate the info of U.S. historical past,” he mentioned.