Florida House Bill 999 targets educational programs on diversity, equity, inclusion and critical race theory

TALLAHASSEE, FL. -Florida House bill 999 aims to advance both Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, aka DEI, and the study of critical race theory in all public universities in the state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis supports passage of the bill to ban all spending designed to “promote, support or perpetuate” what proponents call “political identity filters.”

“The people who will suffer the consequences of these bills are children,” said Chris Finan, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Finan warned that one of the consequences of the restrictions could be that the reputation of Florida schools would be so badly damaged that adding it to a resume could become like a “badge of shame”.

Some students organize protests against the law. police officers four students arrested on Monday at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The students – Gia Davila, 21; Laura Rodriguez, 23; Jeanie Kida, 26; and Chrisley Carpio, 31 – was charged with battery against a police officer; to resist an officer without violence; and disrupting a school campus or event, according to Hillsborough County records.

In response, the DeSantis office released a statement saying House Bill 999 aimed “to counter the tactics of liberal elites that suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination.”

Finan said the bill also poses a threat to college professors.

“They can be reviewed … for no reason, without the need for such review, which will hang on teachers’ heads like a hammer,” Finan said.

De Santis has backed other controversial legislation related to public education. He signed the parental rights in education Bill critics are dubbing the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” to restrict sex education in public schools and the House bill 1467thereby limiting the books available in schools.

DeSantis supported Florida house bill 7better known as the Stop WOKE Act to limit educational discussions about race and gender in schools, but was blocked by a federal judge late last year.