No, Florida didn’t approve just one publisher for all of its math textbooks

On April 15, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education revealed the state’s approved math textbooks after it prohibited textbooks that it claimed “included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL).”

People on social media claimed Florida only approved textbooks from just one publisher and prohibited the use of textbooks from all other publishers across the country.

THE QUESTION

Did Florida approve just one publisher’s math textbooks for all public schools?

THE SOURCES

• Florida Department of Education (FDOE)
• Accelerate Learning
• Big Ideas Learning

THE ANSWER

No, Florida did not approve just one publisher’s math textbooks for all public schools.

WHAT WE FOUND

An approved textbook list released by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) initially listed textbooks from 11 publishers across all of the state’s K-12 math classes. That initial list approved just one publisher for standard K-5 math classes, but approved textbooks from two additional publishers for the state’s advanced elementary school math classes. FDOE later updated the list to add textbooks from a second publisher to standard K-5 math classes.

FDOE released its first list on April 15, which shows the approved math textbooks for each math class in Florida’s K-12 standard curriculum. Only Accelerate Learning’s STEMscopes textbooks were approved for standard K-5 math classes, but a McGraw Hill textbook and a Savvas Learning Company textbook were also approved for third grade accelerated math classes. The only textbook approved for the fourth grade accelerated math class was a Savvas Learning Company textbook.

Outside of elementary school, FDOE approved textbooks from 10 different publishers, bringing the state to 11 publishers in total when including the three elementary school textbook publishers. Two of the publishers for elementary school textbooks, McGraw Hill and Savvas Learning Company, also produce textbooks the state approved for students in middle school and high school.

FDOE updated its approved textbook list on April 26 to also include textbooks from Big Ideas Learning for standard K-5 math courses. FDOE had already included seven Big Ideas Learning textbooks from sixth grade math to geometry in its original approved textbook list.

Just three other publishers created and submitted math textbooks for Florida’s standard K-5 curriculum, according to FDOE’s list of textbooks it does not recommend. Those publishers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill and Savvas Learning Company, all produced approved textbooks for other Florida math classes.

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