TALLAHASSEE, FL — Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education passed Senate Bill 1372 (SB 1372), a censorship bill that prohibits adults from discussing with other adults in teacher training programs topics related to systemic and institutional racism, sexism, and oppression. It extends the same unconstitutional Stop WOKE prohibitions to teacher preparation courses.
The ACLU of Florida opposes this bill, along with its House Companion bill (HB 1291), which passed its final House committee on Wednesday and now heads to the House Floor.
Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Florida, responded with the following:
“This government censorship bill, like several other unconstitutional censorship bills from prior sessions, prohibits teaching, discussing, and learning about topics related to identity politics, systemic racism, and oppression in teacher training programs.
“Florida politicians keep seeking to impose limits on discourse and conversation in our classrooms. Instead of pursuing meaningful policymaking to improve Floridians’ lives, lawmakers are misusing their legislative powers to pass harmful laws that expand the government’s reach into our daily lives.
“These educational censorship bills, along with the widespread book bans across the state, are designed to keep Floridians uneducated and in the dark. The First Amendment protects our right to read, learn, debate, and discuss popular and unpopular views, regardless of whether they align with the viewpoints of the majority in power. Floridians and the rest of the country have had enough of the Governor’s extremist anti-woke agenda.”
