Over the last two years in Florida, the battles over school textbooks have become politically charged.
After months of discussions and changes, on Wednesday, the textbooks that Miami-Dade Public School students will be taught social studies from were approved for the next school year.
All the school board members were in agreement, from those appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and those elected who lean more liberal.
“I want to thank each and every one of you for this lengthy, complex, but yet so important process," Superintendent Dr. Jose Dotres said.
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One of the biggest concerns of those opposed to the textbooks was that kids would learn that slaves benefited in some way from their experiences, but school board members said Wednesday that material is not in these social studies books.
“Will it include that slavery created some benefits? Absolutely not, absolutely not reflected in these materials that we are adopting, that's not what is reflected there and for the record, there is no benefit to slavery," school board member Dr. Steve Gallon said.
However, some teachers still have other concerns with the approved material. Crystal Etienne, a 7th-grade civics teacher at West Homestead K8, said morals should come from parents, not government-approved textbooks.
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“The books match the standards, but the books are full of government-opposed indoctrination," Etienne said. "We have the government from K-12 now defining what patriotism, defining moral values, defining virtues."
Click here for the list of approved textbooks and an overview of the adoption process.
