Florida Has ‘Effectively Banned’ AP Psychology Courses Under DeSantis

Coming several months after the state’s decision to block African American Studies AP courses, the decision to effectively ban the AP Psychology course represents the latest consequence of the governor’s restrictive education laws.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has “effectively banned” a high school Advanced Placement (AP) psychology course in Florida due to the course’s content on sexual orientation and gender identity, the College Board said Thursday.

Lessons regarding sexual orientation and gender identity have been included in AP Psychology since the course was created 30 years ago, but due to DeSantis’ overhaul of laws and the state Board of Education, the lessons would now violate state law. 

“Any AP Psychology course taught in Florida will violate either Florida law or college requirements,” the College Board, a non-profit organization that oversees AP coursework and administers the SAT college admissions test, said in a statement Thursday. 

The board went on to advise Florida districts not to offer AP Psychology until Florida reverses its decision and allows parents and students to choose to take the full course. 

RELATED: 1 In 8 Florida High School Seniors Won’t Attend a State School Due to DeSantis’s Education Policies

The state, however, will allow superintendents to offer the college-level psychology class for high schoolers, but only on the condition that they exclude LGBTQ topics. 

DeSantis’ Ongoing War on “Woke”

Coming several months after the state’s decision to block African American Studies AP courses, the ban of the AP Psychology course reflects just the latest development of DeSantis’ “war on woke,” enforced by the state’s Parental Rights Law. Known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, it restricts the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms across Florida. DeSantis’ ‘Stop WOKE Act’ placed similar restrictions on how educators could teach about race and racism.

The laws have fueled an ongoing battle between the state and the College Board. The rift came to a head in May, when the state Department of Education asked the College Board to ensure all AP courses comply with the new Florida laws. 

RELATED: Here’s What’s in the Right-Wing Curriculum Approved for Florida Schools 

In June, the board replied that it would not modify “courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” adding that doing so “would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for careers in the discipline.”

Part of DeSantis’ Playbook

Democratic lawmakers, LGBTQ advocates, and educators have also been vocal in rejecting DeSantis’ efforts to overhaul and remake public education based on his own ideology.

“[This is] part of the DeSantis playbook of eroding rights and censoring those he disagrees with,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers’ union, said in a statement. 

“Florida is attempting to insert their political orthodoxy into college level courses that will leave our students ill-equipped when competing with other students,” Democratic Rep. Anna V. Eskamani wrote in a Tweet. “If the College Board made these anti-LGBTQ+ changes, it could lead to colleges not accepting the class for college credit!”

More than 28,000 Florida students took AP Psychology in the last academic year.

DeSantis’ education policies are already having a negative impact in the state. One in eight graduating high school students in Florida say they won’t attend a public college in the state due to the governor’s education policies, according to an Intelligent.com survey of over 1,000 Florida students, including 783 still in high school and 364 current undergrads.

Update: On Friday, August 4, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said that the state believed the psychology course could be taught “in its entirety […] in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate.”

The College Board said it hoped Florida teachers now will be able “to teach the full course, including content on gender and sexual orientation, without fear of punishment in the upcoming school year.”