Florida officials demand removal of references to climate change before they can be accepted for use

SEATTLE - The state of Florida and its public school system told textbook authors last month that some references to climate change need to be removed from science books before they can be accepted for use across Florida's public schools.

Back in May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that stripped the phrase "climate change" from much of Florida law. The bill did not address public education nor the state's science standards, but House Bill SB 1645 altered the state's energy policy, removing the goal of recognizing and addressing "the potential of global climate change."

Two authors told local outlets they learned of the state-directed changes from their publishers, who received phone calls in regards of this issue in June from state officials. Ken Miller, a professor emeritus of biology at Brown University and co-author of a high school biology book, was asked to add citations to back up statements that human activity caused climate change. He was also asked to cut a "political statement" urging governments to take action to stop climate change.

Earlier this month, the Florida Education Department released the list of science textbooks for elementary, middle and high school science classes. Miller's and the other unnamed author's books were among those approved, but there were no textbooks for high school environmental science classes despite three companies submitting bids to supply books for that class.

The state's Department of Education has previously rejected math and social studies textbooks over what they viewed as the inclusion of "woke" concepts. Critics say that, the latest demands to censor the phrase "climate change" from textbooks is another example of the DeSantis administration aligning Florida's public education system with conservative views.

"How do you write an environmental science book to appease people who are opposed to climate change?" asked a school district science supervisor, who is involved in science textbook adoption for her district. She asked the Orlando Sentinel not to be identified for fear of job repercussions.

Miller, who also serves as president of the board of the National Center for Science Education, told the Sentinel that the phrase "climate change" was not removed from his high school biology textbook but, according to his publisher, a 90-page section on climate change was removed from the textbook and the phrase was removed from middle school science books.

Florida is one of six states in the United States that does not follow the Next Generation Science Standards. According to Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, Florida was among the five-lowest ranked states in the country in terms of how their public school science standards addressed climate change.

According to the list published by the state's Education Department, there were 146 textbooks submitted for consideration but only about 75 of them were approved. Materials can be rejected for failing to match Florida's standards or failing to provide content that is accurate. Publishers of science textbooks were told in advance to keep "critical race theory, social emotional learning and other unsolicited strategies" out of their textbooks.