Fascinating story by the Tallahassee Democrat, which has relevance to Virginia because Glenn Youngkin’s former firm – and possibly Youngkin himself – is prominently featured. Also note that Youngkin is a huge fan of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, about whom Youngkin said, “I think Governor DeSantis has done a lot of really impressive things to lead and this is where I look to lead as governor.” Here are a few excerpts from the Tallahassee Democrat story:
- “The Florida DOE rejected more than 50 mathematics textbooks — about 40% of those submitted — for failing to meet Florida’s new learning standards or because they ‘contained prohibited topics’ that included references to critical race theory. For regular math classes, Accelerate Learning’s STEMscopes Florida Math books are the only option for school districts.”
- “DeSantis has taken a lead role nationally in Republican efforts to aggressively push back against liberal cultural values and what he calls ‘woke indoctrination.'”
- “The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, acquired Accelerate Learning on Dec. 20, 2018, according to the firm’s website. During that time, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was the co-CEO of the firm. After 25 years with the company, Youngkin resigned in 2020 to run for office in Virginia. The first thing Youngkin did as governor of Virginia was sign an executive order to ‘end the use of inherently divisive concepts, including critical race theory, and restoring excellence in K-12 public education in the commonwealth,’ a measure that’s comparable to DeSantis’ ‘Stop WOKE Act.'”
- Also note: “The K-5 math books were also created in partnership with Rice University,” and that “Youngkin is a 1990 graduate of Rice University.”
Fascinating coincidences, huh?
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