Recap and analysis of the week in state government and politics
By Ryan Dailey, The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a challenge to the state on Thursday when he blocked part of a controversial law that restricts the way businesses can cover race-related topics when training employees.
“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case,” Walker wrote in a 44-page ruling. “But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents. Because, without justification, the (law) attacks ideas, not conduct, plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of this lawsuit.”
Walker granted a preliminary injunction request by three businesses and a consultant, all of whom require or perform training on issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion.
The business-related lawsuit is just one in a series of federal legal challenges that have put Gov. Ron DeSantis’ priority “Stop WOKE” law under siege.
Part of the law that guides employment practices lists eight race-related concepts and says that a required training program or other activity that “compels such individual (an employee) to believe any of the following concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”
As an example of the concepts, the law targets compelling employees to believe that an “individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.”
Walker agreed with the plaintiffs that restrictions in the law violate the First Amendment, rejecting arguments by attorneys for the state that the law leaves businesses “free to engage in” any speech they want but can’t hold employees as a captive audience.
“It (the law) targets speech — endorsing any of eight concepts — and only incidentally burdens conduct,” Walker wrote. “Even the slightest endorsement of any of the eight concepts at any required employment activity violates the statute; the (law) requires no evidence that the statement be even subjectively offensive. Nor does the (law) require that the statement create a severely or pervasively hostile work environment.”
Walker’s ruling came on the same day that a group of university professors and a university student filed a federal lawsuit challenging another part of the law restricting how race-related concepts are addressed in education.
The professors and the student argued the law constitutes “racially motivated” censorship. The 92-page lawsuit also was filed in the Northern District of Florida.
Another education-related challenge also is pending in federal court.
GOING, GOING, GONE
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. on Wednesday gave his staff the go-ahead to “pull” LGBTQ support documents at all school districts, after a State Board of Education member asserted that some could violate a new state law.
Diaz immediately granted the request of board member Ryan Petty, who said he has “grave concerns” about some LGBTQ support guides provided to students, teachers and school staff members.
Petty specifically took issue with one sentence from a Hillsborough County district guide, reading it aloud during the state board’s meeting in Pensacola.
“With the limited exception involving the imminent fear of physical harm, it is never appropriate to divulge the sexual orientation of a student to a parent,” the Hillsborough County guide said.
Petty did not name the law that he suspects is being violated, but the Legislature this year passed a controversial measure (HB 1557) that bars classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades.
Much of the law, which was formally titled “Parental Rights in Education” by its sponsors but given the moniker “don’t say gay” by detractors, is centered on bolstering parental involvement in “critical decisions” about student well-being.
Petty said in an email later he didn’t know whether the Hillsborough County guide had been updated. But he nevertheless asked the state Department of Education to collect every support guide with the goal of conducting a “review, by this board, to ensure compliance with state law and department regulation.”
The board’s move drew immediate criticism from the LGBTQ-advocacy organization Equality Florida, whose press secretary, Brandon Wolf, called it part of DeSantis’ “cynical weaponization of state agencies” against LGBTQ youth.
“Across the state, districts have spent years working alongside their communities to create more inclusive school environments, implementing nationally recognized best practices for supporting all students. Now, the governor is politicizing those resources for the purpose of bolstering his election year bona fides. School districts routinely review and update these resources to remain in compliance with all applicable laws and provide the best possible support for students,” Wolf said in a statement to The News Service of Florida.
PUMP UP THE NUMBERS
DeSantis will propose a slate of bills for the 2023 legislative session designed to bolster school districts’ efforts to recruit teachers, after students returned to classes last week amid a scarcity of educators.
During a stop at a New Port Richey high school, DeSantis on Tuesday teased legislation aimed at recruiting to teaching jobs retired law-enforcement officers, emergency-medical technicians, paramedics and firefighters who have bachelor’s degrees.
The proposal, DeSantis said, would make people who have worked in those professions eligible for $4,000 bonuses and would waive fees for the state teacher-certification exam.
“We believe that the folks that have served our communities have an awful lot to offer. And we’ve got people that have served 20 years in law enforcement, they retire, and some of them are looking for the next chapter in their life,” the governor said.
Two other potential measures would include a teacher apprenticeship program for prospective educators who have associate’s degrees, and the launch of a scholarship program to help high-school teachers earn master’s degrees.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, released a statement Tuesday accusing DeSantis of trying to lower standards for teaching certificates and positions.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Calling part of the law a “naked viewpoint-based regulation on speech,” a federal judge Thursday blocked restrictions that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers placed on addressing race-related issues in workplace training.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Diversity in the workplace is demonstrably good for business, so we need to be able to educate employees about the threats to diversity.” — Honeyfund.com, Inc. CEO Sara Margulis, whose business is one of the plaintiffs challenging a Florida law restricting how race-related issues can be addressed in workplace training.